Everywhere with Roy Lewis

By Othor Cain,

Editor,

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and for decades photos depicting black life have been speaking volumes. For years celebrated Mississippi photographer Roy Lewis, has been taking photos documenting the African-American experience that have been seen by people both nationally and globally.

Lewis’ work is literally everywhere.

The “Everywhere with Roy Lewis” exhibition started in 2008 at the Essence Festival and has travelled from Chicago to Natchez. It will return to Roy Lewis after its run. In a description that accompanies the exhibit, Lewis plans to extend the “Everywhere with Roy Lewis” to 300 photos.

“It is a remarkable reflection of his life and career as a photographer over the past six decades of work he’s been doing,” said Robert Luckett, director of the Margaret Walker Center on the campus of Jackson State University (JSU).

Lewis, who has been a celebrated black photographer for the past 50 years, photographed many of the iconic moments of the modern civil rights movement and was often invited by Margaret Walker Alexander to photograph events she hosted at JSU.

Lewis was born July 24, 1937, in Natchez, Miss., and grew up on a plantation, as his father toiled as a sharecropper. His mother died when he was young, and he was raised by his maternal grandparents. After graduating from high school in 1956, he relocated to Chicago and worked in the subscription department at Johnson Publishing Company. Soon after, he was drafted into the U.S. Army, and while still enlisted he purchased his first camera – an old Kodak Brownie.

“The purpose of ‘Everywhere’ is for me to select for display what I think to be my best work,” Lewis said in the exhibit’s description.

Lewis would eventually elevate his equipment game. “My first professional camera was a 35-mm Ricoh that I bought from a fellow soldier for $25, and the progression from taking photos while in high school to being at Johnson Publishing was exciting. I could see stories and photographs being developed and watch others complete the photography,” Lewis told news outlets in Chicago in 2017. “Many times people don’t get to see the entire process. I felt like I was a part of a big thing.”

He took photos of soldiers and his friends. In 1961, he married Marmel Robinson and a year later, he was discharged from the army.

He returned to Johnson Publishing; however, his career got started after JET magazine published his photo of Thelonious Monk, a jazz musician. In 1966, he returned to Mississippi after James Meredith had been shot and he photographed the March Against Fear. He left Johnson Publishing in 1968 and taught in the film department at Northeastern Illinois University.

Lewis’ work was recognized appreciated by many who attended the exhibit.

Jackie Hampton, publisher of The Mississippi Link and member of the National Newspaper Publishers Association, also known as the Black Press of America, knows him for his professionalism and amazing photography during their NNPA conventions. She was also happy to learn of his Mississippi roots.

“Lewis spoke to students and community leaders while at JSU. His photos in the exhibit taken during the civil rights movement invoked the most questions and comments,” said Hampton.

The exhibition will run at JSU until June 28.

Call the Margaret Walker Center at 601 979-3935 for more information.