Founding Members
Front row from left: L-R Herman Howard, Ming Smith, Jimmy Mannas, Louis Draper, Calvin Wilson, Anthony Barboza; Back row from left: Adger Cowans, Ray Francis, Herb Randall, Danny Dawson, Beuford Smith, Herb Robinson, Al Fennar, Shawn Walker; Photography credit Anthony Barboza, 1973.
“It is our endeavor to produce significant visual images of our time. In the area of human relationships, political and social interactions and the spiritual world of pure imagery, the needs are the same; that being the establishment of contact with self is the key, the sources point from which all message flow. We speak of our lives as only we can.”
1963
Louis Draper, James Ray Francis, Herman Howard, Earl James, Calvin Mercer, Calvin Wilson, Herbert Randall, Albert Fennar, Shawn Walker, and James Mannes, Adger Cowans, Herb Robinson, David Carter, and Anthony Barboza
History of New Members
1965 Beauford Smith
1972 C. Daniel Dawson and Ming Smith
1994 Steve Martin, Toni Parks ( Gordon Parks daughter), John Pinderhughes and Frank Stewart
2000 Collette Fournier, Eli Reed
2001 Budd Williams
2003 Spencer Burnett, Gerald Cyrus, and June Truesdale
2004 Mark Blackshear, Russell K Frederick, and Jerry Jack
2005 Radcliffe Roye and Salimah Ali
2009 Ronald Hearad and Darryl Sivad
2024 Johnny Simmons, Michael Young, Rico X, Djibril Drame, Kemi Karim