February is Black History Month, so I thought it would be fun to look at the history of black photographers. From Jules Lion, who made daguerreotypes in New Orleans in 1839, the year after they were invented, to contemporary photographer Yannis Davy Guibinga, black photographers have made significant contritions in journalism, portraiture, fashion and art.
P.H. Polk was one of those artists. He went to school in 1916 at Tuskegee Institute with the intention of becoming a painter like Van Gogh or Rembrandt. But he was told by the institute’s founder, Dr. Booker T. Washington, that he should take up house painting instead because that was more practical. P. H. Polk wanted no parts of house painting! Luckily he began studying photographer under C. M. Battey. He continued learning through correspondence courses since no white photography schools would accept him. His portraits were reminiscent of Rembrandt. 
Addison Scurlock came to Washington, D.C. from Fayetteville, N.C. at 17 years old and listed his profession as photographer. He had his own studio as a portrait photographer, always making his subjects look good. He also became the keeper of visual memory of the black community in Washington, D.C. He captured black culture in its complexity and showed black people as they saw themselves. 
I don’t want to leave out black women photogaphers. One of note is Florestine Perrault Collins. She was the first African-American female professional photographer. She focused on women and children in a domestic setting and presented them as individuals instead of subservient.
Of course, there are so many others. I’ll highlight a few more throughout the month. Along with these early portrait photographers, we see many who gave us a picture of black life and highlighted things like the Harlem Renaissance and the Civil Rights movement from the black perspective.
I’ll end with a quote from Delphine Fawundu and Layla Amatullah Barrayn, cofounders and authors of MFON: Women Photographers of the African Diaspora.“Unfortunately, the Western gaze is quite limiting, oppressive, and even violent. We are all humans experiencing the world from different perspectives. To move forward in a humane way, it’s important for us to respect the need to include a multitude of voices, eliminating the idea of a hierarchy as we share stories of human experiences.”