John W. Mosley

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For other people named John Mosley, see John Mosley (disambiguation).
John W. Mosley
self portrait
Born
John W. Mosley

(1907-05-19)May 19, 1907
Lumberton, North Carolina[1]
DiedOctober 1, 1969(1969-10-01) (aged 62)
Reading, Pennsylvania
NationalityAmerican
Known forPhotography

John W. Mosley (May 19, 1907 – October 1, 1969) was a self-taught photojournalist who extensively documented the everyday activities of the African-American community in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,[2] for more than 30 years, a period including both World War II and the civil rights movement.[3] His work was published widely in newspapers and magazines including The Philadelphia Tribune,[4] The Pittsburgh Courier[5] and Jet magazine.[6]

Mosley has been called a "cultural warrior" for preserving a record of African-American life in Philadelphia and Pennsylvania,[7] one which combats "negative stereotypes and false interpretations of African-American history and culture".[7] More than 300,000 of Mosley's photographs are included in the Charles L. Blockson Afro-American Collection at Temple University. Exhibitions of his work have been shown at the Philadelphia International Airport and the Woodmere Art Museum.

Early life[edit]

John W. Mosley was born in 1907 in Lumberton, North Carolina. His father was a Baptist minister and a barber.[8] Mosley played football in high school.[9] He began teaching himself photography with a simple box camera in the 1920s.[1] He studied at Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, North Carolina.[8]

In 1934, Mosley moved to Philadelphia as part of the Great Migration.[6] There, he obtained a job as a professional photographer at Barksdale Photography Studio.[1] He later had a darkroom and photographic studio at the Christian Street YMCA.[6]

Photography[edit]

External videos
video icon “A Million Faces: The photography of John W. Mosley”, Woodmere Art Museum

Mosley flourished in his career as a photographer from the 1930s to the 1960s. He was known to photograph as many as four events a day, seven days a week.[2] He traveled around Philadelphia on public transit, carrying his cameras and other equipment.[3]

Mosley shot in black and white film. He used a large-format Graflex Speed Graphic camera.[5] and a medium-format Rollieflex.[6]

Proud of his heritage, Mosley chose to portray the black community positively at family, social, and cultural events that were part of daily life.[2] He photographed individuals and families at weddings, picnics, churches, segregated beaches, sporting events, concerts, galas, and civil rights protests.[3] During a time of racism and segregation, he emphasized the achievements of black celebrities, athletes, and political leaders.[2][3]

Among those he photographed were bandleader Duke Ellington, trumpeter Cootie Williams, basketball player Wilt Chamberlain, tennis player Ora Washington,[10] Paul Leroy Robeson, Billy Eckstine, Billie Holiday,[7] Martin Luther King Jr., Cecil B. Moore,[5] Marian Anderson, Eleanor Roosevelt,[11] and President Richard Nixon,[1] to name only a few.

Locations he captured included Nixon's Grand Theatre at Broad Street and Montgomery Avenue; the Earle Theatre at 1049 Market Street; Chicken Bone Beach in Atlantic City, Glamour Row, and Club Harlem.[7] The Pyramid Club was one of many centers of African-American culture and life in Philadelphia which he documented,[12][7] working as the club's staff photographer for many years.[6] He published an annual album of photographs for the club, the Pictorial Album of the Pyramid Club.[9] He was also the official photographer of the First African Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia.[13][14]

Mosley was one of the first black Americans to be a syndicated photographer.[15] His work was widely published in East-coast African-American newspapers such as The Philadelphia Tribune[4] the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin,[6] and The Pittsburgh Courier[5] and appeared in Jet magazine.[6]

Legacy[edit]

The Charles L. Blockson Afro-American Collection at Temple University contains more than 300,000 photographs taken by Mosley.[7][8] Blockson's private collection of materials relating to the history and culture of those of African descent was one of the largest in the United States.[2] Blockson acquired the Mosley photos from Clarence Still and Teresa Still Mosley, John W. Mosley's wife, in 1985.[1][7]

The curator of the Blockson Collection, Diane Turner, emphasizes the importance of Mosley's work in combating "negative stereotypes and false interpretations of African-American history and culture in Philadelphia and Pennsylvania":[7]

John W. Mosley was documenting the African-American community during a period from the 1930s through the 1960s when there were many stereotypical images of African Americans, ... the Mosley photographs ... represented an accurate record of Black Philadelphia.[7]

Charles L. Blockson wrote a biography of Mosley's life, The journey of John W. Mosley (1992).[12]

The exhibition A Celebration of African-American Life in Philadelphia, 1930's – 1960's: Selected Photographs by John W. Mosley was shown at the Philadelphia International Airport in 2012.[7][2]

A retrospective of Mosley's work, A Million Faces: The Photography of John W. Mosley, appeared at the Woodmere Art Museum in Philadelphia in 2016.[16]

Resources[edit]

  • Blockson, Charles L. (1992). The journey of John W. Mosley. Philadelphia: Quantum Leap Publisher. ISBN 978-0962716171.

External links[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e Edmonds, Arlene (11 February 2017). "Mount Airy United Fellowship Church hosts collection of photographs by photographer John W. Mosley". The Philadelphia Sunday Sun. Retrieved 5 March 2018.
  2. ^ a b c d e f "John W. Mosley:Photographs of Philadelphia's African-American Community Between Terminals E and F November 1, 2011 - September 4, 2012". Philadelphia International Airport. Retrieved 5 March 2018.
  3. ^ a b c d Woodmere Art Museum. "A Million Faces". Arts in Philly. Retrieved 5 March 2018.
  4. ^ a b "Black Philadelphia, 1930's-1960's: John W. Mosley's photographs of 'A Million Faces'". Vin de Vie Wine of Life. October 1, 2016. Retrieved 2 March 2018.
  5. ^ a b c d Booker, Bobbi (September 17, 2016). "John W. Mosley photos to make public debut". Pittsburgh Tribune. Retrieved 5 March 2018.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Bixler, Michael (September 30, 2016). "A Million Faces Celebrates The Photography Of John Mosley". Hidden City Philadelphia. Retrieved 2 March 2018.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Jelesiewicz, Eryn (June 13, 2012). "Blockson Collection Photos give inside view of African-American life from 1930s to 1960s". Temple Now. Retrieved 2 March 2018.
  8. ^ a b c "John W. Mosley Photographs". Temple University Libraries. Retrieved 2 March 2018.
  9. ^ a b "Black Philadelphia through the lens of John W. Mosley". Auction Finds. 26 September 2016. Retrieved 5 March 2018.
  10. ^ Niven, Steven J. (14 March 2016). "Queen of the Courts". The Root. Retrieved 5 March 2018.
  11. ^ "Marian Anderson and Eleanor Roosevelt at the Pyramid Club, Philadelphia". Woodmere Art Museum. Retrieved 5 March 2018.
  12. ^ a b Blockson, Charles L. (1992). The journey of John W. Mosley. Philadelphia: Quantum Leap Publisher. ISBN 978-0962716171.
  13. ^ "The Home of African American Presbyterianism". Historical Society of Pennsylvania. 2014-03-31. Retrieved 5 March 2018.
  14. ^ "First African Presbyterian Church (Philadelphia, Pa.) records". PACSCL Finding Aids. Retrieved 5 March 2018.
  15. ^ Wellington, Elizabeth (October 24, 2016). "A Million Faces: This John W. Mosley exhibit will leave Philadelphians reminiscing". The Inquirer. Retrieved 2 March 2018.
  16. ^ Hine, Thomas (December 4, 2016). "John Mosley's photos at Woodmere: The Philly African American world at midcentury". The Inquirer. Retrieved 2 March 2018.
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