‘Black is Beautiful: The Kwame Braithwaite Story’ shines light on photographer who documented Black expression

When it comes to people associated with the Black power movement of the 1960s and ‘70s, the names of some icons are immediately recognizable: Malcolm X, Angela Davis, Huey P. Newton. Other names, such as Kwame Braithwaite, are not.

But although Braithwaite isn’t as well-known or as lauded as some other heroes of that era, a recently released documentary on the late photojournalist and activist, which screens Saturday at the Museum of Photographic Arts at the San Diego Museum of Art, could help change that.

The documentary, “Black is Beautiful: The Kwame Braithwaite Story,” debuted in November. It explores the subject’s life and career, including his time as a Harlem-based photographer whose work sought to portray the lives and physical features of people with dark skin in a positive light.

His work differed from that of famed African-American photojournalist Gordon Parks in that Parks was more known for documenting a wider range of Black life, including poverty, gang life, segregation and everyday struggles. Braithwaite, however, chose to accentuate the positive aspects of Black life.

As the documentary details, Braithwaite’s the person credited with popularizing the phrase “Black is Beautiful.” He also was a major figure in the resulting movement of the same name and is credited with kickstarting it by using the phrase on a poster to advertise a 1962 fashion show he staged.

“The Kwame Braithwaite Story,” which was helmed by London-based director Yemi Bamiro, aims to inform the public of Braithwaite’s importance to not just African Americans in New York or to Black people across the U.S., but to people of African descent around the world.

In fact, the Barbadian star Rihanna, of “Umbrella” fame, said in 2019 that Braithwaite’s work was the inspiration for her luxury beauty line, Fenty.

Braithwaite was born Jan. 1, 1938 in Brooklyn to immigrant parents who, like Rihanna, were from Barbados. He was raised in New York, and as a boy attended what’s now known as the High School of Art and Design, in Manhattan.

As an adult, he decided to use his photographic talent to both entertain and educate the masses. Brathwaite, who died in 2023 at 85, is said to have taken about 500,000 photos across his 60-year career, with the images mostly focusing on celebrating Black life, as opposed to merely documenting it, as Parks did.

Saturday’s event, set for 7-9 p.m. at MOPA, includes a screening of the 98-minute film, plus a 20-minute conversation with Kwame Braithewaite Jr., who manages his father’s photographic archive. He also oversees collaborative projects that accord with the themes in his father’s work, such as activism, politics, fashion and music.

His father’s works have been featured in about a dozen exhibitions in recent years, including shows at both U.S. and international galleries in Santa Monica, San Francisco, Chicago, Arkansas and France.

Three of his photographs are on display at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego through Aug. 9 as part of Swizz Beats and Alicia Keys’ Giants exhibition.

“Kwame documented a very important period of history, of Harlem, jazz, women’s clothing, hair, everything that had to do with Black expression,” Marilyn Satin Kushner, the then-curator of the New York Historical Society, said in 2022 as an exhibition of his work took place there. 

“These are going to live on as very important documents and also very wonderful photographs.”