| The TAAP Archive focuses on the growth
and development of vernacular and community photography among
African Americans in Texas. The material in the Collection elucidates
the context of social gatherings, including weddings, funerals,
Juneteenth parades, church services, high school and college
graduations, neighborhood businesses, and day-to-day activities
in African American communities around the state. In addition,
the images chronicle social protests and political demonstrations.The
Collection includes work by identified photographers from around
the state as well as photographs by unidentified picture makers.
Within the historical context of the work, the Collection includes
undocumented tintypes and other early prints that were found
in Texas African American communities. The TAAP Collection places
the work of older artists along side of that of their younger
peers. The known photographers represented in the Collection
include Calvin Littlejohn (Fort Worth), A. B. Bell, Marion Butts,
George Keaton, and Carl Sidle (Dallas), Curtis Humphrey (Tyler),
Eugene Roquemore (Lubbock), A. C. Teal, Elnora Frazier, Juanita
Williams, Rodney Evans, Earlie Hudnall, Jr., Herbert Provost,
Benny Joseph, and Louise Martin (Houston), Alonzo Jordan (Jasper)
and Morris Crawford and Robert Whitby (Austin).
 Calvin
Littlejohn (1909-1993) was originally from Cotton Plant, Arkansas,
and moved to Fort Worth in the early 1930s. He opened his
first studio in 1934 and remained active in the African American
community in Fort Worth until his death.
A. B. Bell (1913-1989) was a freelance photographer
for the Dallas Post Tribune and Dallas Express. From 1977
to 1979 he had his own studio on Elm Street in downtown Dallas,
and from 1979 until his death, he worked out of his home in
Oak Cliff. Marion Butts (b. 1924) was the managing editor
of the Dallas Express from 1954 to 1962 and has been active
as a photographer in the African American communities of Dallas
for more than forty years. George Keaton (b. 1933) began his
career as a photographer by working for the Anderson Studio
while he was a high school student and currently operates
his own studio in South Dallas. Carl Sidle (b. 1943) is a
medical photographer, who documents community life in his
free time.
A. C. Teal (1891?-1956) was a commercial
photographer who opened his first studio in Houston in 1919,
and in 1942 opened his own school of photography. Among his
students are Elnora Frazier (b. 1924), Juanita Williams (b.
1926) and Benny Joseph (b. 1924), who have all pursued independent
careers in photography. Herbert Provost (b. 1921) opened his
first studio in Houston in 1949, and continues to be active
as a community photographer. Rodney Evans taught photography
at Texas Southern University from 1952 to 1991. Evans' student,
Earlie Hudnall, Jr. (b. 1946), currently works at Texas Southern
University and is highly regarded for his photographs of African
American neighborhood life and culture. Louise Martin (b.
1911) studied photography at the Chicago Art Institute and
Denver University and returned to Houston, where she has worked
since 1946.
Morris Crawford (1920-1983) and Robert Whitby
(1914-1978) were high school teachers in Austin and worked
as community photographers on a part-time basis. Curtis Humphrey
(b. 1907) began his career as a photographer in Fort Worth
in 1932. He later worked in Dallas in the State-Thomas area.
In the 1940s he taught photography at Texas College in Tyler
and at Wiley College in Marshall. Since 1954, Humphrey has
operated his own studio in Tyler, and has worked in African
American communities throughout East Texas. Eugene Roquemore
(1921-1993) was a student of Curtis Humphrey at Wiley College
in 1947. Originally from Timpson, Texas, Roquemore operated
a photographic studio in Henderson until he moved to Lubbock
in 1952, where he was employed by Frito-Lay and worked as
a photographer in the African American community in his free
time.
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