Call Number:

Ms. Coll. 1639

Repository:

University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts

Extent:

3 linear feet (3 boxes)

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

Leandre Jackson photographs, 1974-2008, Ms. Coll. 1639, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania

Date:

1974-2008 (inclusive)

Creator:

Jackson, Leandre

Form:

Musicians, Black, Rap (Music), Photographic prints, Photographs, and Negatives (photographic)

Abstract:

Leandre K. Jackson (born 1951) is a photographer living in and documenting Black life in Philadelphia, who is best known for his images of musicians and singers; authors and poets; journalists; political activists; educators; attorneys and judges; doctors; actors; scientists; ministers; dancers; athletes; and visual artists. This collection consists of negatives and prints documenting Leandre Jackson's career as a photographer and photojournalist. These negatives and prints also document his collaborations with historian and activist James Spady (1944-2020).

Leandre K. Jackson (born 1951) is a photographer living in and documenting life in Philadelphia. He was introduced to photography in 1970, while a student in high school; and continued his education in the art throughout his time as a student at Swarthmore College. He graduated from Swarthmore in 1975, having studied English literature and Black studies; but continued to work at the college from 1975 to 1977, as director of their Black Cultural Center (also known as "The House"). He earned his master's degree in communications from Temple University. Jackson identifies as a "photojournalist for approximately 20 years, producing images for feature stories." Over the years, Jackson's photography has been "exhibited and deposited at such institutions as Swarthmore College, Rider University, Antioch University, Widener University, the Free Library of Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Art Museum, the International House in Philadelphia, the Moorland Springarn Collection of Howard University, and the Schomberg Research Center of the New York Public Library," (Project MUSE).

While a student at Swarthmore, Jackson met activist and historian James G. Spady (1944-2020) and they collaborated on numerous projects over nearly three decades. They worked on projects in which they intended to "elevate the stories and history of those being excised from our common history … to do [that, they] knew [they] had to tell—in words and photographs—the stores of the culture, the well-known and the little-known." (University of Pennsylvania). For these projects, Spady selected the interviewees, and Jackson took photographs of the interviews, as well as portraits of the interviewees. In "Discourse Methodology in Service of Narrative Strategy: Nommo Seeking in a Hip Hop Universe, James Spady's Hip Hop Oeuvre," Jackson writes that "in the decade from 1977 to 1987, [Spady and Jackson] spent time interviewing and recording on tape and film both known and not as well-known workers in the arts and academia," including activists, authors, judges, musicians, poets, professors, and others. Many of these interviews were published in newspapers, books, journals, and magazines. In 1985, they began publishing weekly photo-text pieces for the Philadelphia New Observer, resulting in more than 550 features and stories. During the 1980s through the early 2000s, Spady and Jackson studied hip hop culture through interviews, conversations, and performances; and Jackson states that "as participant-observer in the early evolution of Philly HipHopgraphy, [his] point of view and analysis [was] shaped by the actual fieldwork done in the streets of New York, Philly, D.C., Cairo, Accra, and Hong Kong," (Jackson).

Throughout his career as a photojournalist, and through his collaborations with Spady, Jackson is "known for his vibrant candid shots depicting Black life in Philadelphia and around the world, as well as his striking portraits of eminent Black cultural figures, writers, and musicians," (University of Pennsylvania).

Works Consulted:

Jackson, Leandre K. "Discourse Methodology in Service of Narrative Strategy: Nommo Seeking in a Hip Hop Universe, James Spady's Hip Hop Oeuvre," The Western Journal of Black Studies, Vol. 37, No. 2, 2013.

Jackson, Leandre K. "Leandre K. Jackson Photography." https://www.mrleandrejackson.com/ (accessed April 18, 2025)

Jackson, Leandre K. "Leandre K. Jackson Vintage Photography." https://leandresvintage.com/ (accessed April 18, 2025)

Project Muse, "Leandre K. Jackson." https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/article/205085 (accessed April 18, 2025)

University of Pennsylvania. "University of Pennsylvania Libraries Acquires Leandre Jackson Photograph Collection." https://www.library.upenn.edu/news/university-pennsylvania-9 (accessed April 18, 2025).

This collection of photographic negatives and prints documents Leandre Jackson's career as a photographer and photojournalist, and at the same time, documents Black life in Philadelphia. Jackson is best known for his images of musicians and singers; authors and poets; journalists; political activists; educators; attorneys and judges; doctors; actors; scientists; ministers; dancers; athletes; and visual artists. These negatives and prints also document his collaborations with historian and activist James Spady (1944-2020).

The collection is arranged into two groups. I. Negatives and II. Prints.

I. Negatives were organized and titled by Jackson into binders, including A. "Alphabetical;" B. "Hip Hop;" C. "Observer;" D. "Conferences;" and E. "Duplicates." For the most part, within each binder, Jackson placed the negatives in alphabetical order. This order has been maintained, with the exception of occasionally alphabetizing by last name rather than first (Davis, Miles, rather than Miles), and adding information about the subject's profession when possible.

Researchers should be aware that there is overlap across all of these original binders: Miles Davis, as an example, appears in A. "Alphabetical" and in B. "Hip Hop;" as well as in negatives alphabetized under other artists, including Eartha Kitt and Benny Golson. As a result, it is recommended to perform keyword searches for individual's names and organization's names in order to find them throughout the collection. Further, sometimes only first or last names were used on the negative sleeves. When possible, full names were added. If there were obvious misspellings, they were corrected; however, if the processor was not absolutely certain, original spellings have been maintained. Researchers should also be aware that all information that was provided on the negatives sleeve has been transcribed into the finding aid.

Jackson's titles of binders were clearly for his own use. Observer contains photographic negatives from Philadelphia New Observer and Hip Hop includes artists beyond hip hop, including jazz, soul, R & B, etc. The processor maintained these groupings that Jackson created in case linkages exist. Hip hop is generally spelled without a dash; but researchers should search for hip-hop as well, in case it is part of a organizational name.

These negatives appear to be a fairly complete record of Jackson's work as a photojournalist (some of which can be seen on his websites: Leandre K. Jackson Photography (especially "Portraits," "Portraits – Two," "Jazz Works," and "Hip Hop Archives") and Leandre K. Jackson Vintage Photography (especially "Folio 5 – Iconography") and many document the subjects written about or interviewed for the Philadelphia New Observer from 1985 to 2005.

They do not appear to cover his photographs of international cities and peoples, landscapes, or Philadelphia scenes, some of which can be seen on his websites: Leandre K. Jackson Photography (especially "Big City" and "This World") and Leandre K. Jackson Vintage Photography (especially "Pandemic Musings, Folios 1 and 2," "Folio 3 – This World," and "Folio 4 – Odunde Files").

II. Prints are arranged in alphabetical order, by person's name. For the most part, prints are black and white–if not identified as a color photograph, researchers should assume that the prints are black and white. The images are original prints that were submitted either to James Spady (author of associated articles) or to the Philadelphia New Observer.

The subjects of very few of these prints were identified by Jackson; and when identification was still impossible at the end of processing, prints were arranged by topic and alphabetized as such (for example: "Saxophonists (unidentified photographs)"). If researchers discover misidentified images or can identify unidentified images, please contact Kislak (rbml@pobox.upenn.edu) and corrections will be made. Whenever possible, information regarding profession of the subject has been added. There are significantly fewer prints than negatives; but it appears that there are a few prints for which negatives do not exist.

Researchers are encouraged to use these prints along with Jackson's websites: Leandre K. Jackson Photography (https://www.mrleandrejackson.com/) and Leandre K. Jackson Vintage Photography (https://leandresvintage.com/).