Black History Month; Marquette exhibit, photographs from community
MILWAUKEE - Thursday, Feb. 1 is the first day of Black History Month.
Inside a Marquette museum, both achievements and struggles in Milwaukee’s Black community are already on display.
"Someone came into the museum, and said, ‘May I speak to a curator?’ I started looking at these photographs and they were really wonderful," said Lynne Shumow with the Haggerty Museum of Art.
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They are all photographs from Bill Tennessen. His son brought some of them to Shumow at the museum.
"There were hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of photographs that we went through," Shumow said.
Dynamic Range: Photographs by Bill Tennessen
The end result is the Dynamic Range: Photographs by Bill Tennessen exhibition.
"I love the people in them," said Mia Phifer with America's Black Holocaust Museum. "I love the history that is there."
Pictures highlight moments of Black history in Milwaukee, including communities, churches, families and political figures.
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Robert Smith and a team with America's Black Holocaust Museum worked closely with the Haggerty.
"This exhibit is really a brilliant example of how an artist’s eye can capture moments, can capture culture," Smith said.
Tennessen is self-taught. In 1981, he began contributing to the Milwaukee Community Journal, the state’s largest Black newspaper. But Tennessen doesn’t look like the people he often focused on.
Dynamic Range: Photographs by Bill Tennessen
"In some ways it’s a big deal, in some ways it’s not," Smith said. "He was just doing a great job at something he loved."
Tennessen is 89. What he documented decades ago is coming into full focus.
"I’m also hoping some people come forward and say, ‘Hey, that's me in the photograph,’" Shumow said.
Dynamic Range: Photographs by Bill Tennessen
There are 50 photos from the past that curators hope will impact the future.
"It’s important to see the joy in Milwaukee’s Black community, but also to understand some of the challenges," Shumow said.
Dynamic Range: Photographs by Bill Tennessen runs through May 12. The Haggerty Museum of Art is open Monday-Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and is free.