Photographer:

Scurlock, Addison N., 1883-1964  Search this

Names:

Divine, Father, or Rev. (George Baker), ca. 1882-1965  Search this

Subseries Creator:

Scurlock Studio (Washington, D.C.)  Search this

Scurlock, Robert S. (Saunders), 1917-1994  Search this

Custom Craft  Search this

Scurlock, Addison N., 1883-1964  Search this

Scurlock, George H. (Hardison), 1919-2005  Search this

Extent:

1 Item

Container:

Box 1

Culture:

African Americans  Search this

Type:

Archival materials

Photographs

Date:

undated

Scope and Contents:

Job Number: 25695

Group portrait of Divine with fourteen other men and women, seated around a table; man in left foreground is writing on a pad and a woman is writing on the table. A sign on the wall behind them reads simply, "Abundance." Ink ident. on film edge, plus "15- Prints". Signed "Scurlock / Wash. D.C." in ink, bottom left.

Biographical / Historical:

African-American religious leader, founder of the Peace Mission movement, b. probably near Savannah, Ga. and named George Baker. After preaching in the South, he moved to Harlem (1915) in New York City, became one of the neighborhood's biggest landlords, acquired wealth through other businesses, including restaurants and grocery stores, and began styling himself Major M. J. Divine, later Father Divine. Although once dismissed as a cult leader, he built the largest religious movement in northern ghettos during the Great Depression. His role as an early civil rights activist — he led anti-lynching campaigns, instituted economic cooperatives, and organized political action against racial discrimination — has come to be more appreciated. The movement spread beyond New York City to other places in the United States and abroad, sometimes after the group sent whites to purchase property in segregated areas. During the 1940s, his health and influence declined, but his movement symbolized the progressive spirit in the black church and helped define the church's active role in the civil rights movement. See Sara Harris, Father Divine (rev. ed. 1971); Kenneth E. Burnham, God Comes to America (1979); Robert Weisbrot, Father Divine (1984); Jill Watts, God, Harlem U.S.A. (1992). -- The Columbia Encyclopedia, Fifth Edition Copyright ©1994, 1995 Columbia University Press.

Addison Scurlock probably photographed Father Divine in 1932, according to research by Professor Leonard Primiano, Cabrini College (e-mail Aug. 6, 2010).

General:

#151 on original envelope, from box D.

Subseries Restrictions:

Collection is open for research. Gloves must be worn when handling unprotected photographs and negatives. Special arrangements required to view negatives due to cold storage. Using negatives requires a three hour waiting period. Contact the Archives Center at 202-633-3270.

Subseries Rights:

When the Museum purchased the collection from the Estate of Robert S. Scurlock, it obtained all rights, including copyright. The earliest photographs in the collection are in the public domain because their term of copyright has expired. The Archives Center will control copyright and the use of the collection for reproduction purposes, which will be handled in accordance with its standard reproduction policy guidelines. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.

Topic:

Portraits, Group -- African Americans  Search this

African American clergy  Search this

Cults and nonconventional religious groups  Search this

Genre/Form:

Photographs -- 1930-1940 -- Black-and-white negatives -- Acetate film

Subseries Citation:

Scurlock Studio Records, Archives Center, National Museum of American History. Smithsonian Institution

Sponsor:

The collection was acquired with assistance from the Eugene Meyer Foundation. Elihu and Susan Rose and the Save America's Treasures program, provided funds to stabilize, organize, store, and create digital surrogates of some of the negatives. Processing and encoding funded by a grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources.

See more items in:

Scurlock Studio Records, Subseries 4.1: Black-and-White Silver Gelatin Negatives

Scurlock Studio Records, Subseries 4.1: Black-and-White Silver Gelatin Negatives / 4.1: Black-and-White Silver Gelatin negatives

Archival Repository:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep80b19cb43-7551-4ecd-b2f4-022f0639629a

EDAN-URL:

ead_component:sova-nmah-ac-0618-s04-01-ref21