Africa: 'Black Is Beautiful' Proponent Kwame Brathwaite - Photography to Restore Black Pride

Kwame Brathwaite is a documentary photographer who chronicled the cultural, political and social developments of Harlem and co-founded the African Jazz Art Society and Studios. He staged a series of pageants that featured only black models, which helped popularise the phrase "Black Is Beautiful". This is also the title of his upcoming book.

Born of a Caribbean background in 1938 but growing up in the Bronx in New York City, Kwame Brathwaite was determined to use his art to elevate depictions of black life. He got his start documenting jazz music uptown in the 1950s. "[Jazz] is a feeling, a drive, an emotion that can be totally captivating. I have tried to capture that same feeling in my work," writes Brathwaite in his upcoming book, Black Is Beautiful.

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