Teenie’s pictures put on display

Charles “Teenie” Harris photographed people, places and events in the Hill District to… Charles “Teenie” Harris photographed people, places and events in the Hill District to document life in urban America during his 40-year career with the Pittsburgh Courier, a black newspaper.

The Carnegie Museum of Art opened an exhibit Saturday, which is the second part of a project chronicling Harris’s work.

The exhibit displays 200 digital prints, with an additional 7,000 images available on a computer monitor, according to Tey Stiteler, communications manager of the museum.

It will be open until July 30.

“What we have are 80,000 images by Teenie Harris,” Stiteler said, adding that Harris has provided the longest photographic record of a black community anywhere in the United States that she knows about. Harris died in 1998.

Stiteler said that many of the photos contain unidentifiable people, places and events, and it is important to reach out to the community so they can help identify what is going on in the photos.

“Many of the people in Teenie’s generation are getting older and, little by little, they are passing away, and so it’s very important for the museum and the community to come together to identify the activities in the photos for posterity,” Stiteler said.

“We just don’t want things to get lost,” she added. “So it’s a great help to have the community to come in and help us with this task.”

Pittsburgh Parks and Recreation is also holding an exhibit in the lobby of the City-County Building titled “Pittsburgh Courier Images” until Feb. 28.

Sponsored by the Dwelling House Association, the exhibit features 40 photographs from the New Pittsburgh Courier’s archives, including those of Harris. The Pittsburgh Courier was renamed the New Pittsburgh Courier when John Sengstacke bought it in 1966.

“I think that the display that we’re putting together with the New Pittsburgh Courier is kind of revealing a treasure,” said Amanda Morel, Citiparks manager of the office of special events and community affairs. “This is the first time these photos are being framed and displayed, so it’s actually really exciting.”

Robert Lavell, chief office executive of Dwelling House Savings and Loans – and former staff member of the Pittsburgh Courier and friend of Harris – added that the exhibit will show today’s youth that people need to be accepted for who they are.

“[The exhibit] generates black pride among young black kids,” Lavell said. “They get to see something of their history, not in the light of the slavery situation, but in black people struggling to achieve parity, you know, equality.”