Teenie Harris Photographs: Elections

Charles “Teenie” Harris’s work brought him into frequent contact with the political process. As a photographer for the Pittsburgh Courier, Harris shot candidates and rallies, activists and polling places. He documented those organizing around the Voting Rights Act, which went into effect August 6, 1965, prohibiting racial discrimination in the nation’s voting process.

Teenie Harris Photographs: Elections brings together three eminent guest curators to reflect upon Harris’s work covering elections, looking toward the presidential elections this fall. They include Harold Hayes, former KDKA news reporter; Michael Keaton, actor and political activist; and Pittsburgh City Councilman R. Daniel Lavelle, whose District 6 includes Downtown Pittsburgh, the Hill District, and parts of Oakland and the North Side. [...]

Charles “Teenie” Harris (1908–1998) photographed Pittsburgh’s African American community from ca. 1935 to ca. 1975. His archive of more than 70,000 images is one of the most detailed and intimate records of the black urban experience known today. Purchased by Carnegie Museum of Art in 2001, the Teenie Harris Archive was established to preserve Harris’s important photographic work for future generations. [...]

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website