RICHARD SAMUEL ROBERTS

Roberts (1881-1936) taught himself photography and operated his own studio in Fernandina, Florida, till moving to Columbia, South Carolina in 1920. Working as a post office custodian, he rented a studio in 1922, and for the next 14 years chronicled through pictures a stunning visual history of the Black community in South Carolina's capital city, especially the rise of the economically secure middle class. Because his small studio had limited floor space and poor natural light, he was forced to improvise in his use of equipment and background. After his death his children stored his negatives until they were discovered and appreciated in 1977 when researchers at the University of South Carolina's South Carolinian Library retrieved more than 3,000 negatives from obscurity.

Reference
Roberts, Richard Samuel. A True Likeness: The Black South of Richard Samuel Roberts, 1920-1936. Columbia, S.C.: B. Clark ; Chapel Hill, N.C.: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 1986.

ADDISON N. SCURLOCK

Scurlock (1883-1964) was Howard University's official photographer. He opened his studio in 1911, operating with his wife and two sons until his death in 1964. The Scurlock Studios worked diligently to increase the visibility of community life, black intellectuals, artists, musicians, and politicians in the Washington, D.C. area. In 1948, Robert and George established the Capitol School of Photography, which opened its doors to World War II veterans and others-like Jacqueline Bouvier (later Kennedy)--who wanted to learn photography.

MORGAN and MARVIN SMITH

The Smiths were twins born on February 16, 1910, to a sharecropper family in Nicholasville, Kentucky. They were not exposed to the opportunities that would lead to their photographic success until the late 1920s when their family moved to Lexington. During their time in that city’s only African American high school, the twin brothers developed their artistic abilities in areas of art. Upon graduation in 1933, Morgan and Marvin decided to continue their work in Cincinnati, but disappointed in the lack of opportunities, they moved to New York. Shortly after arriving in Harlem, they found work with the Works Progress Administration (WPA) performing manual labor. They took art lessons from Augusta Savage at her studio and came in contact with other prominent artists of the famed "306 Group." The twins’ talents were first noticed by the public in 1937 when Morgan won an award for his photograph of a young boy playing jai-alai. Morgan and Marvin decided to focus their photographic efforts on life in the Harlem community, turning their attention to the positive aspects of that section of New York and its people. In 1950, Marvin left Harlem to study in Paris, where he developed his skills in abstract painting and had the opportunity to meet and work with Pablo Picasso. Morgan became interested in film and eventually became a sound technician for ABC. When Marvin returned from France in 1952, Morgan taught him about the film industry, and the Smith twins spent less time on their photography. In 1968, Morgan and Marvin Smith closed their Harlem photography studio. Morgan died on February 17, 1993.

RICHARD ALOYSIUS TWINE

Twine (1896-1974) lived and worked in St. Augustine, Florida, from 1922 to 1927. His photographs of Lincolnville, the black community of that city, preserving a visual record of celebrations as well as the interiors of homes belonging to middle class black families.

ELLIE LEE WEEMS

Weems (1901-1983) was a native of McDonough, George, who moved to Jacksonville, Florida in 1929 to open his own photographic studio. A graduate of Tuskegee Institute, he had a successful career that spanned over 50 years of recording Jacksonville’s African-American community. Weems was one of the first photographers to colorize photographs by hand. His 100,000 negatives and several hundred photographs are now preserved at the Auburn Avenue Library in Atlanta.