The subjects in the photograph are barely recognizable. Yet you can make out that a young child has their legs sticking out and is being hoisted underarm by a Black man. The pair is immersed in joyful recreation in a grassy area against a pale sky and surely paying no attention to the camera lens that captured the profile shot. The energy is playful; the levity is felt. You’d need to step closer to identify any evidence of smiling or laughing, and even then it’d be difficult, but the point of the photo (“Father Swinging Son” by Chester Higgins Jr.) displays the strength of carefree love that exists between parent and child.
“Father Swinging Son” is one of many photos that are part of the ‘Black Photojournalism’ exhibit, running now through Jan. 19, 2026, at Oakland’s Carnegie Museum of Art. The exhibit is also encapsulated in an accompanying photography book.
The collection includes work by nearly 60 photographers who captured Black people through several decades. There’s a photo of a very young Michael Jackson wistfully looking out into the open water as he and his brothers skiff along in a water vessel. There’s a photo of a member of the Black Panther Party holding up a banner with the concrete words that Huey Newton should be free. There’s a photo of Shirley Chisholm, the first Black woman to be elected to Congress, speaking to a mass of people while forming her fingers into a peace sign. There’s a photo of seamen and women holding up newspapers with headlines declaring an end to the war.
