KWAME BRATHWAITE WAS FAMILY! He taught me about the possibilities of photography and what it means to document everyday life in Harlem. The last time I saw Kwame was at Melba’s Restaurant on a Sunday afternoon with his family. All the church folks were there. He and his wife greeted me as they always did with a welcoming smile. Kwame’s warmth and compassion for community guided me to a phrase I call upon often: “Art teaches us that lives other than our own have value.”In 1969, I moved from Philadelphia to New York City to study at the Germain School of Photography in Lower Manhattan. The first
Born out of the American civil rights movement, Black artists’ coalitions thrived in the 1960s and ’70s. Now, a new generation is discovering their power.