Leo Frame spent years witnessing history through the lens of his camera.
During his lifetime, the local artist and teacher has photographed iconic figures such as Muhammad Ali, Angela Davis, Miles Davis and Sly Stone. These and other images are currently part of an exhibit called Bearing Witness to Black Consciousness: Leo Frame, which opened recently at the Oak Bluffs Library.
“When I retired in 2013, my wife set a task for me. The task was to get together a show,” Mr. Frame said at the opening reception Saturday.
Mr. Frame’s work has been exhibited in Atlanta and at Featherstone Center for the Arts. The library show, which showcases his work from 1968 to 1980, is only a fraction of the tens of thousands of photographs he has in his personal archive.
“I love Black people. I grew up and that was all I saw. I saw the beauty,” Mr. Frame said. “For the longest time, I didn’t consider myself a photographer. I was just trying to capture instances that I love.”
Mr. Frame went to high school in Compton, Calif. and then attended Fisk University, where he studied under Robert A. Sengstacke, a notable photojournalist who worked for the Chicago Defender.
“Fisk changed my life, going to college in Nashville, Tennessee, where the world came together, people from all over the world,” Mr. Frame told the crowd.
As a student, Mr. Frame helped start the Third World Bookstore at Fisk. He would drive to Harlem in New York City to buy the excess inventory from Lewis Michaux, the owner of African National Memorial Bookstore, one of the most prominent Black bookstores in the country, and bring the books back to Nashville.
The university’s efforts to promote Black history was integral to how Mr. Frame approached photography.
“That in itself propelled me to try and find all the beauty that I could in the community. In my community, at my school, all the people I came across in this quest,” Mr. Frame said.
After graduating from Fisk, Mr. Frame went to business school at University of Massachusetts Amherst. While at Amherst, he worked for the school’s Committee for the Collegiate Education of Black Students for his alternative service. The committee worked to recruit and support Black students, and Mr. Frame photographed campus events for the committee’s publication.
“I have to say this from the perspective of a historically black college student, the amount of resources at the university was immense,” Mr. Frame said.
Mr. Frame then moved to Atlanta, getting to know people working on political campaigns, including Andrew Young and Maynard Jackson.
“I was carrying my camera with me then, everything from house parties to rallies,” Mr. Frame said.
He worked as an advance person for Maynard Jackson during his mayoral campaign. After Mr. Jackson was elected as the first Black mayor of Atlanta in 1973, Mr. Frame became the in-house press photographer for the office.
“Once he got elected, his press person said you need to have a press pass,” Mr. Frame said. “This will let you into events and you’ll represent the city. And, oh my goodness, it was an open ticket.”
Mr. Frame lived in Atlanta until 1987 and then he and his wife, Janice, moved to the Vineyard for a change of pace — she began teaching at the West Tisbury school and he joined the faculty at Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School in 1990.
While at the high school, Mr. Frame began a mentor group called Young Brothers to Men for Black and Indigenous students. In the late 90s, the group began to include Brazilian students as well. The group eventually opened up to the entire school.
Mr. Frame retired in 2013, and it was then that his wife suggested he put his work together for a show.
Mr. Frame said he finds looking back at his photography a re-affirmation of his ideals.
“I didn’t choose the time. The time chose me. I just grew up during that time and I accepted that as normal. I was just trying to document it as best I could,” Mr. Frame told the crowd. “I felt like I had an obligation to publish or at least record it. What I experienced in life, these people championed. They were before their time. A lot of them risked their lives. Some of them I worked with were killed or paralyzed and I realized the sacrifice at the time.”
He added that in the light of the state of the country, sometimes he worries about how much progress was actually made. That is one of the reasons he finds it important to educate and inspire younger generations.
“No one started yesterday. Everyone has someone who brought them to this point or inspired them...hopefully in seeing these images, people will remember.”
Bearing Witness to Black Consciousness: Leo Frame will be on display at the Oak Bluffs Public Library though July 27.
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