Greg French's Collection of African American Photographs by Greg French

Greg French provides an overview of his collection of African American photography, with an emphasis on the earlier material, especially the daguerreotype, ambrotype and carte de visite formats. He gives insight into his choices and discusses the background and significance of some of the images. French began collecting antique photography including images of African Americans in 1981. In 1999, he was the biggest private lender to the groundbreaking PBS documentary "Africans in America." In 2003, in conjunction with the Daguerreian Society Symposium, he curated an exhibition from his collection entitled “Positive Images: Early African American Photographs” at Iocovozzi Fine Art in Savannah Georgia, with the assistance of Mark Johnson. Greg was co-founder of the multi-media project "Mirror of Race" with Gregory Fried and Derek Burrows. He also assembled a panel on African American images for the 2020 Daguerreian Society Symposium. He has lent images to many books, documentaries and exhibitions. Presented on January 16, 2021.