She also sat for Greenwich Village resident, Berenice Abbott (1898-1991), one of the premiere photographers of the 20th century and a protegee of Man Ray. Perhaps best known for her dramatic black-and-white photographs of New York City architecture during the 1930s, Abbott also was an accomplished portrait photographer.
Sylvia Beach, the American owner of Paris’s Shakespeare and Company Bookstore, once said, “To be ‘done’ by Man Ray or Berenice Abbott meant you rated as somebody.” (more…)
Black historians and black history lovers converged in Washington, DC on Saturday, February 26th for the 85th annual Association for the Study of African American Life and History, the organization founded by Carter G. Woodson–the father of black history–in 1915.
Lonnie Bunch, A'LeliaBundles, Tuliza Fleming and John Fleming at the ASALH luncheon in DC (2-26-2011)
The luncheon always brings out the stars of black history!
We saw Lonnie Bunch (founding director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture), Tuliza Fleming (NMAAHC curator Apollo exhibit) , John Fleming (former ASALH president/executive producer America I AM), (more…)
One of my favorite parts of writing a book is the research. You truly never know where a photograph, a newspaper clipping or a faded letter will lead you. When I started my research for On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam C. J. Walker almost 40 years ago, I knew very little about Madam Walker’s childhood as Sarah Breedlove or (more…)
Walker Family Photos (A’Lelia Bundles’s Walker Family Archives)
Doing the research about the women in my family brings many incredibly serendipitous moments. Last fall out of the blue I received a call from a gentleman who had purchased these photos at an auction. My best guess is that they had been left behind in a dresser that once had belonged to my grandmother, Mae Walker Perry. I actually already had all of the photos except one, but (more…)
In celebration of the United Negro College Fund’s 1998 Designer Showhouse at Villa Lewaro, Madam C. J. Walker’s Irvington-on-Hudson, NY estate, HGTV produced this hour documentary. You can learn more about the house at www.madamwalkerestate.com and on urban planner and preservationist Deena Parham’s blog Urban by Design.
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