Kwame Brathwaite | |
---|---|
Born | Gilbert Ronald Brathwaite January 1, 1938 New York City, U.S. |
Died | April 1, 2023 New York City, U.S. | (aged 85)
Occupation(s) | Photojournalist, activist |
Years active | 1950s–2023 |
Known for | Documentary photojournalism |
Relatives | Elombe Brath (brother) |
Website | kwamebrathwaite |
Kwame Brathwaite (January 1, 1938 – April 1, 2023) was an American photojournalist and activist known for popularizing the phrase "Black is Beautiful" and documenting life and culture in Harlem and Africa.[1]
Born Gilbert Ronald Brathwaite in Brooklyn on January 1, 1938[2] and brought up in the South Bronx, to immigrant parents from Barbados,[3] who chronicled the cultural, political, and social developments of Harlem, Africa, and the African diaspora.[4] As a boy in the early 1950s, he was enrolled at School of Industrial Art (now the High School of Art and Design). He adopted the name Kwame in the early 1960s, a tribute to Kwame Nkrumah, the first leader of post-colonial Ghana.[3][5]
With his older brother Elombe Brath, Brathwaite founded the African Jazz Art Society and Studios in 1956[6] and Grandassa Models in 1962.[7][8]
In 2021, the Pérez Art Museum Miami acquired "Untitled (AJASS Model on Black Background)" (1970s/2019)," portraying a female model figure dressed in patterns resembling quilts created in African American communities, such as those made at Gee's Bend, in Alabama. The artist is a major figure in the Black is Beautiful movement.[9][10]
Brathwaite died in Manhattan on April 1, 2023, at the age of 85.[11][12]
On January 28, 1962, with his brother Elombe Brath, Brathwaite staged the Naturally '62 pageant, the first of a series of pageants to feature only black models.[7] The 1962 pageant was titled The Original African Coiffure and Fashion Extravaganza Designed to Restore Our Racial Pride & Standards.[13][14] Held at the Harlem Purple Manor, a nightclub on East 125th Street, it helped to popularize the phrase "Black Is Beautiful" that was printed on the pageant's poster.[15][16][17] The Naturally pageants ran for five years, with the last one held in 1966.[14]
In the 1960s, his work also appeared in New York Amsterdam News, The City Sun, and The Daily Challenge. He photographed concerts of Stevie Wonder, Bob Marley, James Brown,[18] and Muhammad Ali.[19]
In 2017, Brathwaite was honored at the 75th Aperture Gala.[20]