One Shot Harris

The Cotton Candy Booth 1945 

One of the best books of photographs we have received at the LRC is One Shot Harris a collection of photographs by Charles "Teenie" Harris.  Harris was an African-American photographer working in Pittsburgh from the 1930s to the 1970s.

His images are a great document of his community and America during this time.  There are images from inside the numbers rackets, portraits of celebrities, street photographs, protests, crime scenes, store fronts and children playing.  He received his nickname One Shot from the Pittsburgh Mayor David L Lawrence who was always surprised that Harris would patiently wait for the that one shot at press conferences and it was always great.

The book is by Stanley Crouch an editorial columnist and Jazz critic and it includes a great essay by Professor Deborah Willis.  For those who can not make it to the LRC check out the Teenie Harris Archive online from the Carnegie Museum of Art to see all his images.