Charles "Teenie" Harris (1908-1998)
Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
A photojournalist who chronicled Pittsburgh’s African American community from the 1930s to the 1980s, taking more than 80,000 photographs. Many were published in The Pittsburgh Courier, a leading Black newspaper, and documented life and culture in the city’s Hill District, including celebrity jazz musicians who performed there. His darkroom was located in the basement of his home at 7604 Mulford Street.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
For half a century Charles "Teenie" Harris turned his camera on Pittsburgh's African American community, amassing more than 80,000 images of everyday life, work, and celebration. Many ran in The Pittsburgh Courier, one of the nation's most influential Black newspapers, and his lens captured the jazz greats who filled the clubs of the Hill District. He developed this vast record in a darkroom in the basement of his own home on Mulford Street.
Why it matters
Harris created one of the richest visual archives of 20th-century Black American life anywhere in the country, preserving a community that mainstream photography too often ignored.
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Related people
- · Charles "Teenie" Harris
Themes & tags
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