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Frank Espada

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Frank Espada
Born
Francisco Luis Espada Roig

(1930-12-21)21 December 1930
Utuado, Puerto Rico
Died16 February 2014(2014-02-16) (aged 83)
New York City, New York
NationalityAmerican
EducationCity College of New York,
New York Institute of Photography
Occupationphotojournalist

Francisco Luis Espada Roig (21 December 1930 – 16 February 2014) was an American photojournalist, photographer, activist, educator, and community organizer.[1] Frank Espada founded East New York Action in the early 1960s.[2]

Early life

Espada was born in 1930 in Utuado, Puerto Rico. His family migrated to New York City in 1939. He attended the public school system in East New York. After high school he attended college at City College of New York but he soon left without finishing up his studies, then he joined the United States Air Force during the American participation in the Korean War. Espada married his wife, Marilyn, in 1952. Together they raised two boys and one girl: Jason, Lisa, and Martín.[3] Under the G.I. Bill Espada was able to attend The New York Institute of Photography in New York City, where he learned and honed his craft of documentary photography. He studied under and was mentored directly by such significant role models as W. Eugene Smith as well as Dave Heath.[4] To support his family he worked as an electrical contractor for ten years.

Political activism

Espada was always drawn to and became involved in the civil rights movement prior to 1967 when he joined The City-Wide Puerto Rican Development Program,[5] then under the direction of Manny Díaz. He worked as a community organizer in New York City’s most vulnerable and impoverished areas. Espada organized strikes against unfair rent increases, voter registration drives, sit-ins of welfare recipients and mothers, public school boycotts,[6]marches[7] for safer streets and civil and political rights, among many other expressions, during his tenure as an organizer. In 1979, Espada was awarded a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities which allowed him to focus his very keen and creative eye on documenting the struggle of Puerto Rican communities in the US. Espada had been active and involved with the National Welfare Rights Organization, the National Latino Media Coalition, the National Congress for Puerto Rican Rights, the National Hispanic Manpower Association, and the National Association of Puerto Rican Drug Abuse Programs.[8] In 1985, he moved his family to San Francisco.

Photography

Espada was, and is, renowned primarily as a documentary photographer. Although the sum of his many contributions are more than just one, Espada is best known for his book and his documentary photography project entitled The Puerto Rican Diaspora: Themes in the Survival of a People[9][10][11] in which he exhibited his photography circa early-1960s to mid-1980s of the post-journey of the Puerto Rican people from their island home to their many new homes throughout the US (and the world at large).[12]

Espada is known[13][14][15][16][17][18] for his work in photography’s physical as well as its digital darkrooms.[19] He became a teacher of photography working for University of California, Berkeley, Extension Program, in San Francisco. Under his tutelage, he launched many would-be students of photography into gallery-quality exhibiting photographers in the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond. He also taught photography and darkroom techniques at the Academy of Art University and the San Francisco Art Institute. In addition, Espada opened up his home to a legion of private students and mentees of all ages and persuasions who signed up for one-on-one to small invite-only groups of private seminars and private darkroom instruction, regularly meeting and working in his home darkroom and home living-dining rooms.

As an activist he was rarely silent: “We need to raise some holy hell,” he wrote. “For we have landed at the bottom and have stayed there.”[20]

On the 109th Anniversary of the US Invasion of Puerto Rico, Espada with his then grown son, the acclaimed poet and professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Martín Espada,[21] appeared on a segment of “Democracy Now!” the daily, independent, global news hour with Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez.[22]

Working with Y.E.S., or Youth Environment Study[23][24] founded by Harvey Feldman, Espada photographed and documented the devastating effect HIV/AIDS had wrought on the often-neglected and underserved population of people who abused drugs. Frank also photographed the physical beauty that surrounded him throughout the San Francisco Bay Area.[25] Much of Espada’s work, including some of his photographs and partial papers, 1946-2010, are now housed by the Duke University Libraries in their Rubenstein Library.[26] The Library of Congress acquired an 83-print portfolio,[27] and in 2010 Duke University Libraries acquired a selection of Espada's work, including over 200 finished prints, a portion of his papers, and material related to the Diaspora project.[28][29]

Works

  • Frank Espada (1 January 2006). The Puerto Rican Diaspora: Themes in the Survival of a People. Frank Espada. pp. 5–. ISBN 978-0-9791247-1-6.

References

  1. ^ Gonzalez, David. "Parting Glance: Frank Espada". Lens Blog. Retrieved 2016-02-11.
  2. ^ "Remembering Our Puerto Ricans (2013-2014) - National Puerto Rican Day Parade". National Puerto Rican Day Parade. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2016-02-11. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  3. ^ "The Passing of Frank Espada 1930-2014 | El Puente". elpuente.us. Retrieved 2016-02-11.
  4. ^ "David Martin Heath | Frank Espada and Family, Brooklyn, NY | The Metropolitan Museum of Art". www.metmuseum.org. Retrieved 2016-02-11.
  5. ^ [1], FOX NEWS LATINO. Puerto Rican photographer Frank Espada dies. Published February 17, 2014. EFE.
  6. ^ [2], Pa'lante: Political Works from the Collection of El Museo del Barrio. July 1 — October 2, 1993. Curated by Susana Torruella Leval, Chief Curator and Acting Director, El Museo del Barrio. “Frank Espada's photograph of Malcolm X was taken during the second public school boycott. When he took this photo, Espada was involved in the Puerto Rican organization East N.Y. Action which also participated in the boycott.” Viewed 16 October 2014.
  7. ^ [3], The Battle for Welfare Rights: Politics and Poverty in Modern America. By Felicia Kornbluh. Chapter 1. Inventing Welfare Rights. “On June 30, 1966, fifteen hundred women and men gathered…” 14 search results for Frank Espada cited in numerous pages of book. Pages displayed by permission of University of Pennsylvania Press. Copyright. Viewed 16 October 2014.
  8. ^ [4], Duke University Libraries. Frank Espada Papers Come to Duke. Libraries Receive Photographs and Papers of Noted Photographer and Activist. Durham, N.C.
  9. ^ [5], WorldCat. The Puerto Rican diaspora : themes in the survival of a people. Author: Frank Espada. Publisher: [San Francisco, CA] : Frank Espada, 2006.
  10. ^ [6], Amazon.com. Books by Frank Espada.
  11. ^ [7], Photographers Of Color. Frank Espada. Monday, August 6, 2012. The Robert C. Maynard Institute for Journalism Education "Diversifying the Face of American Journalism”. 663 Thirteenth St., Suite 200, Oakland, CA 94612. (510) 891-9202.
  12. ^ [8], Multicultural Marketing Blog Images USA. Boricua Photographer Explores Puerto Rican Diaspora. Posted on November 17, 2009.
  13. ^ [9], La Respuesta. A magazine to (Re)Imagine the Boricua Diaspora. Art & Literature, Indentity, June 2014, Nueva York. En La Tradición: Reflecting on the Legacy of Frank Espada in an Age of Erasure. By Special Contributor. June 11, 2014. By: Rich Villar.
  14. ^ [10], My Friend Frank. Posted on February 19, 2014 By Lisa Merrai Labon.
  15. ^ “S.O.F.A.” (an acronym for Students Of Frank[Espada]’s Associated) existed in San Francisco and was named SOFA by approx. 10 students in honor of their photography teacher and mentor, Frank Espada of UC Berkeley Extension Program, circa 1990-1991. Additional splinter but unnamed groups created by students of Frank Espada’s came after SOFA’s decimation. SOFA held a SOFA Group Show, at First Unitarian Church Art Gallery, San Francisco, in September–October 1990. Frank Espada taught his students a technique of creating “test strips” to achieve the best print results. Frank’s sharing of his particular darkroom and artwork exhibition how-to’s and techniques led to further development of many artists. Reference San Francisco Chronicle. San Francisco, California. Datebook. September 9, 1990. Photography. Group Shows. Page 11. S.O.F.A. listing called up on microfilm 6 October 2014. Also San Francisco Chronicle. San Francisco, California. Datebook. September 16, 1990. Photography. Group Shows. Page 11. S.O.F.A. listing called up on microfilm 6 October 2014.
  16. ^ [11], Newman/Ferrara LLP. IN MEMORIAM: FRANK ESPADA. Posted on February 17, 2014 2:00pm PST. NILP. National Institute for Latino Policy. The Passing of Frank Espada 1930-2014. By David Gonzalez.(February 17, 2014).
  17. ^ [12], RateMyProfessors.com. Powerd by mtvu. mtvU is a trademark of Viacom International Inc. Frank Espada. Photography Professor at Academy Of Art University. 09/23/2005. Adv. b/w print. "Frank rocked my world. I learned more from him about black and white printing in the first day of class than I had in 5 years of working in the darkroom. He's a very warm and wonderful human being, and incredible artist, and more importantly, a craftsman." 09/15/2005. Adv. b/w print. "One of the few good teachers”. Viewed 12 October 2014.
  18. ^ Ihtisham Kabir (July 23, 2014) [March 1, 2014]. "Goodbye To A Teacher". The Daily Star.
  19. ^ [13], dispatch. fine art, portraiture, editorial, etc. josephszymanski.com.
  20. ^ [14], I for Color. NOV 16. Frank Espada – Documentary Photographer and Civil Rights Activist. Activist, Artist, Photographer. by iforcolor.
  21. ^ [15], La Bloga. Thursday, June 05,2014. Martín Espada's Tribute to Frank Espada.
  22. ^ [16], Democracy Now! A daily, independent, global news hour with Amy Goodman & Juan Gonzalez. On 109th Anniversary of U.S. Invasion of Puerto Rico, Acclaimed Photojournalist Frank Espada and Poet Martin Espada Reflect on Ongoing Struggle for National Rights.
  23. ^ [17], Social Problems. Vol. 36. No. 4. October 1989. Targeted Sampling: Options for the Study of Hidden Populations* Paper by John K. Waters, University of California, San Francisco, and Patrick Biernacki, Youth Environment Study, Inc.
  24. ^ [18], The AIDS Crisis: A Documentary History. edited by Douglas A. Feldman, Julia Wang Miller. See re YES Project to combat AIDS. Pages displayed by permission of Greenwood Publishing Group. Copyright. Viewed 16 October 2014.
  25. ^ [19], YouTube. 土居慶司・FRANK ESPADA二人展. 守人磯田. Uploaded 2011-May-09.
  26. ^ [20], Duke University Libraries. Rubenstein Library / Collection Guides. Guide to the Frank Espada photographs and papers, 1946-2010 and undated, bulk 1975-2010. Frank Espada Photographs - Duke Digital Collections. Digitized Content Images from this collection have been digitized and are available in: Frank Espada Photographs - Duke Digital Collections.
  27. ^ [21], New York Times. Lens. November 5, 2009 7:01 pm. Showcase: The Puerto Rican Diaspora. BY DAVID GONZALEZ.
  28. ^ [22], SALALM - Seminar on the Acquisition of Latin American Library Materials. Frank Espada Photographs & Papers Collection, 1946-2010.
  29. ^ [23], CDS Porch. News from the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University. From the Archive: Remembering Frank Espada. By Publishing-Intern on March 17, 2014. Posted in CDS Recommends.
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