The Jim Alexander Collection

10/05/2026

✨🎬 COMING SOON! 🎬✨

For 70 years, Jim Alexander has done what mainstream American media refused to: build an honest, intimate, and irreplaceable visual archive of Black life in America. Now 91, this self-described “Participant Observer” has photographed jazz and blues legends, human rights frontlines, political leaders, and the everyday people history tried to erase.

“Jim Alexander: Participant Observer,” the debut production of The Society of African American Narratives, is both a portrait of an irreplaceable witness and the first permanent entry in a Content Hub dedicated to protecting Black nonfiction visual history for generations to come.

Want to support the completion of this remarkable project? DONATE TODAY! TSAAN.org/support-us

09/05/2026

to Sept. 4, 2025, when Jim Alexander walked through Hartsfield-Jackson’s International Concourse to see decades of his own history.

His photographs of musical legends — including Duke Ellington’s Orchestra, Eubie Blake, and Miles Davis — live in the airport’s permanent collection. It was a powerful moment seeing the photographer alongside the stories he helped preserve.

Big thanks to the Airport Art crew for the special tour & Sharon B. Dowdell for capturing the moment!



(📸 : All photos by Sharon B. Dowdell)

07/29/2026

🔹🔷 TUNE IN THIS FRIDAY! 🔷🔹

More than music, the Blues is a living record of Black life, stories, and triumphs across generations. It is the foundation of everything we listen to today.

This summer, the Jus` Blues Music Foundation is opening its vault to shine a spotlight on this rich history through the archival photography of Jim Alexander and Jonathan Mason.

On Friday, July 31, join us at 12 pm CDT for "Museum Without Walls," a featured panel at the Blues Got A Soul Tech Conference in Biloxi, Mississippi. Moderated by artist and social justice leader Sistufara W Muhammad, the discussion brings together Jus’ Blues Founder Charles Mitchell with renowned master photographer Jim Alexander and rising photographer/entertainment attorney Jonathan Mason.

07/25/2026

50 years ago today, an Ohio native turned Atlanta icon hurdled into global history. 🥇

On July 25, 1976, Morehouse College physics scholar Edwin Moses captured his first Olympic Gold Medal in the 400m hurdles in Montreal, setting a world record and launching one of the most unstoppable reigns in sports history, including 122 consecutive race victories and a second Gold in Los Angeles 1984.

Before the international glory, there was the pure grit. From sneaking onto locked public tracks around the city just to train before Morehouse had a track of its own, to having that track officially named in his honor, Moses defined what it means to persevere.

These candid 1984 captures by Jim Alexander show Moses at the height of his powers: pushing through a practice session at Lakewood Stadium and surrounded by community on the Morehouse campus.

In this 50th year since his win, and in the 30th year since Atlanta hosted the Olympics, The Jim Alexander Collection salutes Moses — a world record breaker, a pioneer for clean sports, a peace advocate, and a legend.

PHOTOS: Edwin Moses in Atlanta (1984) by Jim Alexander

05/15/2026

05/13/2026

See rare images of Romare & Nanette Bearden, Maynard Jackson, Shirley Franklin, Xernona Clayton, Ojeda Penn, John Riddle, Thomas Byrd, Jomandi Theatre, Toni Cade Bambara, Michael Lomax, Carol Mitchell-Leon, and more!

•••

While the archival photography in "The Neighborhood Arts Center: More Than Just a Dream – Archival Photographs by Jim Alexander" offers a window into our past, there is nothing quite like hearing the stories from the voices of those who lived them.

Join us on Thursday, May 14 at 6:30 p.m. at Auburn Avenue Research Library on African American Culture and History for a special panel discussion that goes beyond the frames. We are bringing together some of the pioneers who were there at the inception and the height of the NAC — the visionaries who built a sanctuary for Black art in Atlanta.

The panel and Q&A features Jim Alexander, Alice Lovelace, John "Kole" Eaton, and Stephanie S. Scott; moderated by Dr. Candy Tate.

•••

https://www.thejimalexandercollection.com/so/65PuYOhdt?languageTag=en

05/11/2026

Some gifts carry a moment. Some gifts carry a lifetime.

Jim often tells the story of Navy Boot Camp in 1952 and the yellow box that introduced him to photography. A fellow sailor who owed him money from a dice game disappeared into the barracks and came back with a Brownie Hawkeye Flash camera instead. Jim began taking 50¢ portraits of fellow sailors with that camera, never knowing it would become the start of his legendary life behind the lens.

So days ago, when a young filmmaker surprised him with that very same kind of camera decades later, it was special moment between a veteran documentarian and an emerging artist who understands the journey.

Thank you for your kindness, Tim! And keep on shootin’ 📸🖤 ()

05/03/2026

The future isn’t just something we help young people prepare for, it’s something they help us see through their curious eyes.

Jim spent a beautiful Saturday afternoon at Auburn Avenue Research Library with the next generation of photographers, and a few participants from the Helene A. Mills Senior Center’s photography class. Ron Smith, executive director of Sound Education Experience, brought the group to tour Jim’s exhibit, “Neighborhood Arts Center: More Than Just a Dream.” SEE provides immersive arts experiences for Atlanta’s 8th-11th graders, and its 8-week photography program culminates in an exhibit of the students’ work.

Thanks for a great talk, guys! Learn more about SEE and how you can support at https://see-us.org

(Jim’s exhibit will be on view through May 30. Come on by!)

atlantahistory