The University of Arkansas Libraries has recently made a photo collection from African American photographer Geleve Grice available to the public.
The Geleve Grice Photography Collection, consisting of photographic prints, slides, and negatives, as well as various personal and professional records, was donated to the University of Arkansas in 2005, shortly after Grice’s death in 2004. Now some 20 years later, the 41.5 linear feet collection has been fully processed.
Throughout the mid-to-late 20th century, Grice served as a community photographer in Pine Bluff, documenting daily life for Black Americans in southeastern Arkansas. His portraits and and photographs feature notable Black leaders such as Muhammad Ali, Jesse Jackson, Dionne Warwick, Maya Angelou, Wiley Branton, Edith Irby Jones, Ida Rowland Bellegard, Raymond Miller, Lawrence A. Davis, Martin Luther King Jr., and Silas Hunt.
In 2003, Grice’s photography inspired University of Arkansas professor Robert Cochran to publish A Photographer of Note: Arkansas Artist Geleve Grice (University of Arkansas Press, 2003). Grice’s works have also been featured in other research projects and museum exhibits.
After serving in the United States Navy during World War II, Grice received his bachelor’s degree from what is now the University of Arkansas Pine Bluff.
