| For over five decades, the black and
white photography of Ellie Weems documented life in the American
Black South. His images span the times of The Great Depression,
World War II and the ensuing struggle for racial integration.
Born in McDonough, Georgia in 1901, Weems trained at Tuskegee
Institute under the founder of the photography department, noted
educator and photographer C. M. Battey. After an apprenticeship
with a professional photographer, Weems began his career in1922
in a studio on Auburn Avenue in Atlanta. He soon developed a reputation
as the peoples' photographer, capturing the life and times in
the African-American community. In 1925, he married Willie Mae
Morris, a public health nurse. Weems relocated to Jacksonville,
Florida in 1930, where he worked for more than fifty years
documenting memorable events from weddings to funerals, honors
and awards ceremonies, entertainers and celebrities, family portraits,
civic and church groups, performing arts, business and commercial
events, Masonic orders and more. When he returned to Atlanta to
be with family in his later life, he brought with him his entire
archival collection, now considered one of the largest collections
that cohesively documents an African - American community.
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