PHOTOGRAPHER CHRONICLED BROAD EXPANSE OF AMERICAN LIFE
By DeWAYNE WICKHAM
Matthew Lewis Jr ., died on Oct . 2 . Now , his son , Kevin Lewis , is working mightily to preserve the memory of his father , Matthew Lewis , Jr ., a Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer , who passed away at age 94 .
The elder Lewis spent a quarter century on the staff of The Washington Post where he chronicled the broad expanse of American life at a crucial time in the 20th century .
From the rural Maryland chicken processing plant of poultry magnate Frank Perdue , to the civil rights battlegrounds of Martin Luther King Jr .; from the image of First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy crying at the funeral of her assassinated husband , to the massive crowd that showed up in the nation ’ s capital for the 1963 March on Washington , there was little
( Photos Courtesy of Kevin Lewis ) of importance that wasn ’ t captured by Lewis ’ camera during his time at The Post .
But as much as this is known about Lewis – and has been the focus of the obituaries written about his passing – there is more to his nine decades of life that Kevin Lewis wants people to know about his dad .
Lewis was a man of humble beginnings . He was a Navy medic , a cab driver and an audio-visual assistant at what was then Morgan State College . In 1965 , he became just the second Black photographer hired by The Washington Post .
“ Matthew Lewis Jr .’ s life is a collection of ( camera ) clicks ,” Our State , a Greensboro , North Carolina magazine said of Lewis shortly after he retired from The Post in 1990 and moved to the Tar Heel State . “ Lewis spent his life turning his camera toward America and clicking ,” Michael Graff wrote in the article , which was titled “ The Great American Photographer : Matthew Lewis .”
But there is much more to his father ’ s life than the thousands of “ clicks ” that , for many , define his father ’ s life , Kevin Lewis told me .
Much more , indeed . Matthew Lewis ’ story encompasses the rich history of his expansive family .
The photographic vein runs deep in the Lewis family tree . Harvey James Lewis , Lewis Jr .’ s grandfather , was , among other things , a portrait photographer . His father , Matthew Lewis Sr ., was a news photographer for the Pittsburgh Courier during its heyday . And Lewis ’ Jr . worked briefly for the Baltimore Afro-American newspaper . Between them their cameras chronicled more than a century of Black life in America , and much more .
But there ’ s even more that Kevin Lewis wants people to know about his dad . He wants us to know the acclaimed photographer who was a doting father , who took him on assignments to Washington ’ s RFK Stadium to cover NFL football games and meet quarterback Sonny Jurgensen and running back Larry Brown . He wants us to know about
( Photo Courtesy Matthew Lewis , Sr .)
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