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Photographer David Johnson: Capturing San Francisco's Black Community in the 1940s and '50s

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 (Getty Images)

African-American photographer David Johnson grew up in segregated Florida, and says his life changed the moment he moved to San Francisco to study with Ansel Adams in 1945. Johnson’s photographs of San Francisco’s African-American community in the 1940s and ’50s, including the thriving jazz clubs in the Fillmore, captured a city and people in the midst of change. Johnson and his wife, Jacqueline Annette Sue, join us to talk about their new book on Johnson’s photographs and his life, “A Dream Begun So Long Ago.”

Samples of David Johnson's Photography

Dancing at the Primalon Ballroom. c. 1950

Guests:

David Johnson, photographer

Jacqueline Annette Sue, author of "A Dream Begun So Long Ago: The Story of David Johnson, Ansel Adams' First African American Student;" and wife of David Johnson

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T-Bone Walker. c. 1950

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