DeCarava, Roy

DeCarava, Roy

(born Dec. 9, 1919, New York, N.Y., U.S.) U.S. photographer. He took up photography in the late 1940s. In 1952 he was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in support of his project to photograph the people of his native Harlem. Many of these photos were compiled in the book The Sweet Flypaper of Life (1955), with text written by the poet Langston Hughes. DeCarava's interest in education led him to found A Photographer's Gallery—which sought to educate the public about photography—in 1955 and an association of African American photographers in 1963. He is perhaps best known for his portraits of jazz musicians.