Randall, Herbert Eugene Jr.
1936-present · Contribution: 1958-1966
Photographer
Co-founded the Kamoinge Workshop in 1963, then spent the summer of 1964 as the primary photographer embedded with Mississippi Freedom Summer’s Hattiesburg project, producing 1,759 negatives that stand as one of the most complete visual records of a single Civil Rights-era community
Portraits are AI-generated interpretations, not photographs.
Quick facts
- Born
- 1936, Bronx, New York
- Active since
- 1958
- Category
- Press & Photography
- Best known for
- Photographing Mississippi Freedom Summer
Impact on the world
Randall produced one of the most complete visual records of a single Civil Rights-era community, capturing Freedom Schools and voter registration at a time when Black photographers faced constant threat of violence.
An alternative history
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Sources
- Book or scholarly workFind
Mississippi Encyclopedia
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Related visionaries
Draper, Louis Hansel
1935-2002
Helped found the Kamoinge Workshop in 1963 and served as the guiding force behind its founding vision and 50-year history, photographing Harlem street life and civil rights-era figures including Fannie Lou Hamer, Malcolm X, and John Coltrane
Cowans, Adger W.
1936-present
Became a founding member of the Kamoinge Workshop in 1963 after working alongside Gordon Parks at Life magazine, and went on to become the first African American still photographer in Hollywood, working on more than 30 feature films
Withers, Ernest Columbus Sr.
1922-2007
Photographed nearly every major event of the Southern civil rights movement over a 60-year career, including the Emmett Till murder trial, the Montgomery bus boycott, and the “I Am a Man” Memphis sanitation strike, while also, as revealed decades after his death, secretly reporting information about the movement to the FBI
Smith, Beuford
1936-2025
Joined the Kamoinge Workshop as an early member in 1965 and later served as its president, co-founded the Black Photographers Annual in 1972, and spent six decades documenting Black community life, jazz musicians, and street scenes in New York City