Bob Black

Jesse Jackson - Photo by Bob Black

CELEBRATING THE ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF: BOB BLACK

IMAGES BY BOB BLACK STORY BY ALEXY IRVING - Bob Black is a Chicago native and nationally recognized photojournalist with deep roots in the development of what Chicago’s professional photography world is today.

Blacks recent induction into the National Association of Black Journalist Hall of fame, serves as a reflection of how building with a community can come full circle. As a founding member of CAAAP and the National Association of Black Journalist’s Visual Task Force, his hands have been crafting what generations after him can utilize as a vehicle to thrive in the professional photography and photojournalism industry.

CAAAP and NABJ are both safe spaces for the black story teller in all of us. Your community can be found if you lean into your gifts and each of these organizations can be labeled as a starting point towards taking your gifts professional and moving forward with a community, simultaneously.

CAAAP is an organization of black photographers that was ignited following a conversation between Bob Black and CAAAP’s founding member Milbert Brown.

“He [Milbert] was a Tribune photographer and we were covering the White Sox game together. This was coming into the 21st century.”

“Its important for us to document our people. Our story deserves to be seen as part of a whole and only we can get in deep.” - Bob Black

Milbert asked, “ Bob, what I would like to do is pull together a bunch of photographers and we just go through the city and document the black community. To see how far we’ve come and how much further we’ve got to go.“ think I done anything great. I was just trying to get the job done.“ Black has since began archiving his work for future generations to come and has brought students through NABJ under his mentorship. This convention hosts industry professionals, numerous panels, workshops and keynote speakers. The organizations mission is to provide career development and education opportunities to its members.

This pivotal moment in history would later on allow Bob Black to be inducted into the National Association of Black Journalists’ Hall of Fame for being a instrumental member of the community that built him.

Black recalls learning of his honor and that he was nominated through Milbert Brown and NABJ’s current president Dorothy.

“It was very humbling because I always felt that people who got that honor were people that have done great things. I didn’t expect it to happen with me because I didn’t “While I was a member of NABJ, it was a source of strength for me. When I first went to the conventions, I got to see people who were managing editors and partner heads. In Chicago, I didn’t see any of that, they didn’t have it. That’s when I found out, Black folks can be the director of photography. Because I ran into a bunch of them.”

NABJ is the National Association of Black Journalist founded in Washington, DC. Every year they host a convention to bring black professionals together to pursue their professional goals. “Theres a lot of great things happening in the Black community. People doing great things. Young people, old people, everybody, doing great things. We need to find those and document them.”

One common responsibility of all photojournalist should be to tell the truth with your photography.

“Its a lot of good things going on in the community, so we should try to find those things and bring that to the forefront because the media is always going to spread the negative. That’s expected. But we have to show the counterpoint to that.”

As Sun-Times photographer Bob Black photographed this policeman skirmished with demonstrator at Division and Wells Monday night, two other policemen attacked Bob Black with clubs. Aug 26 1968

Lou Della Evans Reid served as Minister of Music at the Fellowship Missionary Baptist for fifty years. Here Evans is conducting the choir during a service to celebrate her retirement.

Photo of Bob Black by Matt Gibson IV

“Look for the essence of the folks that live in the community so people can know we’re folks like everybody else who are trying to make life as comfortable for ourselves and our children.” - Bob Black

Federal Bldg Plaza. Renisha James,9, lights a candle in memory of Dantrell Davis who was shot to death while on his way home from school, during a rally in the Federal Building Plaza sponsored by ‘HOPE’, which is headed up by her father, Minister Michael James, B.A. Theology Liberty Baptist Church opened their doors to the community on the night Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated so people could have a place to mourn and comfort each other. It was April 1968.(Sun-Times)