Sol Libsohn was born in Harlem to an immigrant Russian-Polish family. However, his family soon moved to the Bronx, where he attended Theodore Roosevelt High School. He described his upbringing as financially difficult, later recalling, "my father was out of a job most of the time."

A self-taught photographer Libsohn had no formal training. His first camera was given to him by a neighbor in the Bronx.

Briefly attending City College, Libsohn moved to downtown Manhattan to be closer to a group of artists he had worked with. Renting a cot in an artists' studio, he was hired as a model for murals by the Works Progress Administration. Eventually, he was able to transition into working for the WPA as a photographer

In 1936, Libsohn and his former classmate Sid Grossman founded the New York Photo League. The League was the photographic arm of the Workers Film League, founded by Leo Hurwitz and Paul Strand in 1930. The League was dedicated to the documentary style.

Libsohn quickly became an important educator and mentor at the League. At the time, the group was the country's only non-commercial school for photography. They offered photographers space to work, darkroom facilities, and published a magazine of League member's work called "Photo Notes."

Libsohn shot roughly 6,000 images in the five years after co-founding the League. His legacy as a photographer who captured the lives of Americans across the country lives on, and his work was featured in the canonical photography exhibition, "Family of Man," at MoMA in 1955. His work can be seen at the International Center of Photography, the National Gallery, and various other renowned cultural institutions.