My Philadelphia Story Family Pictures USA was invited by the African American Museum in Philadelphia for their monthly Macy’s Family Fun Day to host a full day of photo-sharing sessions with the community. […]
Transforming the Family Album at Detroit’s 2018 AMC
Every year, thousands of media-makers, organizers, and agents for social change converge in Detroit for the Allied Media Conference (AMC): a 4-day, volunteer-coordinated conference that hosts hundreds of sessions focused on using […]
From Durham to Oakland
Stories of Community Participants on stage at Black Communities: A Conference for Collaboration in Durham, NC “I am a person driven by an individual’s story and the stories of community. […]
Before You Came, We Were Here
An Ojibway Family & The Making of Detroit Chantel Henry (Ginew Kwe or “Golden Eagle Woman”) became aware of her and her family’s deep connection to the city of Detroit about four years […]
30,000 Hidden Images Reveal the World of a Soviet-Era Photographer
Self-portrait, taken in Dubroshkino, Leningrad, 1989. Masha Ivashintsova was born in Russia, in 1942. At 18 she started taking photographs, and became involved the underground arts movement in St. Petersburg, then […]
Asian American Voices of the South
“The Family Pictures kickoff activity was a fab ice breaker and I saw my fellow table mates and the people in the room with compassion, love, and humanity that we are […]
Recounting Asian American Narratives of the American South
When I presented my DDFR workshop at “Beyond Borders: Diverse Voices of the American South” in February, I was moved by everyone’s level of engagement and care in their fellow participants. One […]
Just Beyond the River
A Folktale Exhibition Just Beyond the River: A FolkTale series Just Beyond the River features selections from Daesha Devón Harris’ series of mixed media pieces, made using a personal collection of […]
Art & Incarceration
A Panel Discussion Lucas Foglia, Vanessa and Lauren watering, GreenHouse Program, 2014. Courtesy the artist and Fredericks & Freiser Gallery, New York. Most prisons and jails across the United States […]
Celebrating St. Clair Bourne at the Metrograph
In honor of his 75th birthday, Metrograph pays tribute to St. Clair Bourne, Harlem-born and Brooklyn-bred filmmaker, writer, activist, teacher, and organizer. Screenings include selections from a career dedicated to portraying what was […]
Re-Imagining the Family Album at Hunter College!
Below are student testimonies from Thomas’ two-day seminar, Re-Imagining the Family Album , at Hunter College’s Integrated Media Arts Program for the Masters in Fine Arts students. As I looked at […]
Small Talk with Mark S. Lee with Guest Don Perry
On Sunday January 14, my Executive Producer/writer of Family Pictures USA, Don Perry joined the weekly CBS Radio podcast, “Small Talk with Mark S. Lee” along with other guests: Kurt Rankin, Senior Economist, PNC Bank, Dana […]
Coal, War and Love
A Family Memoir By Rudean Leinaeng Rudean holds a portrait of her grandparents, Albert & Evelyn She was beautiful, cultured, and clairvoyant–the pampered daughter of a middle-class colored family; he […]
The Mighty Joe Von Battle – Requiem for a Record Shop Man
By Marsha Philpot (Marsha Music): Joe Von Battle My father, the late Joe Von Battle, was an important mid-century recorder and producer of blues and gospel music in Detroit, from 1945 until 1967. He […]
The Language of Light
I met writer Doug Cooper Spencer via Facebook and asked him to consider writing a piece. A few days later he sent me his essay, ‘The Language of Light’, a meditation on the […]
My Grandfather The War Hero
Albert Sidney Johnson (1880 – 1947) was born in Lexington Virginia, the eldest of five children. Both of his parents had been born into slavery. His father, James, worked as […]
