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Photographer David Johnson, who chronicled San Francisco's Black culture, dies at 97
“Boy and Lincoln, 1963” by David Johnson.
The David Johnson Photograph Archive, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley
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The David Johnson Photograph Archive, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley
“Boy and Lincoln, 1963” by David Johnson.
The David Johnson Photograph Archive, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley
David Johnson generally wasn’t interested in people posing for his camera.
As the photographer and civil rights activist put it in a 2017 interview at the University of California, Berkeley: “A big smiling photograph? That wasn’t my style.”
Johnson died at his home in Greenbrae, north of San Francisco, earlier this month. According to his stepdaughter, he was suffering from advanced dementia and had pneumonia. He was 97 years old.
Johnson was the first Black student of the famous nature photographer Ansel Adams and became known as one of the foremost chroniclers of San Francisco’s Black urban culture.
In one of his most famous images, shot early in his career in 1946, Johnson depicts a street corner in San Francisco’s Fillmore District — once a hub for the city’s thriving Black community until redevelopment later in the century forced nearly all of them out.
“Looking South on Fillmore, 1946,” by David Johnson.
The David Johnson Photograph Archive, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley
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The David Johnson Photograph Archive, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley
“Looking South on Fillmore, 1946,” by David Johnson.
The David Johnson Photograph Archive, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley
The image has energetic angles and stark contrasts of light and shadow. And it’s shot from above. In the UC Berkeley interview, Johnson said he clambered up four stories on a nearby construction scaffold to get it.
“I focused my camera and took one photograph,” Johnson said. “I was kind of anxious to get this little job over with and go back down to the ground.”
A tough childhood
Johnson was born in 1926 in Jacksonville, Fla., to an impoverished single mother who handed her baby off to be raised by a cousin.
In a 2013 interview with San Francisco member station KQED, Johnson said he got his first camera by selling magazine subscriptions door-to-door.
“I just started snapping pictures around the neighborhood. And I got kind of fascinated with that,” he said.
David Johnson in 2023 with one of his photographs, “Clarence,” at an award luncheon at UC Berkeley honoring the photographer.
Peg Skorpinski
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Peg Skorpinski
David Johnson in 2023 with one of his photographs, “Clarence,” at an award luncheon at UC Berkeley honoring the photographer.
Peg Skorpinski
Johnson was drafted into the U.S. Navy right out of high school. He was stationed in San Francisco, falling in love with the city, and was then sent to the Philippines for the remainder of World War II. After returning, he wanted to develop his photography skills in college.
It was 1946, and budding photographers were clamoring to get into the program that master lensman Adams had just launched at the California School of Fine Arts in San Francisco. Its star-studded faculty included Minor White, Imogen Cunningham, Edward Weston and Dorothea Lange.
San Francisco-bound
Johnson wanted in. So he sent Adams a letter.
“I wrote to Ansel and said, ‘I’m interested in studying photography. I have the GI Bill. And I would like for you to evaluate my [application].’ Ansel wrote me back and said, ‘There are no vacancies in the class,’ ” he told KQED.
But a student dropped out, making room for Johnson.
He hopped on a segregated train that took him from Jacksonville to San Francisco. After living in Adams’ house for a while, he eventually found a low-rent room in the city’s Fillmore District and started taking lots of photos.
“Eartha Kitt with Neighborhood Children, 1947,” by David Johnson.
The David Johnson Photograph Archive, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley
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The David Johnson Photograph Archive, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley
“Eartha Kitt with Neighborhood Children, 1947,” by David Johnson.
The David Johnson Photograph Archive, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley
Many of these images appeared decades later in a KQED documentary about the Fillmore’s status — and eventual demise — as one of the country’s most vibrant Black neighborhoods.
“He would go to the clubs in the evenings, take incredible photographs of musicians,” said Christine Hult-Lewis, the pictorial curator of special collections at UC Berkeley’s Bancroft Library, which houses the David Johnson archive. “He had very easy relationships with people in the barbershops and the folks in the churches and folks on the streets.”
Johnson said his college instructors encouraged these pursuits.
“Growing up, most of the photographs I have seen of Black people were just not very complimentary,” he told KQED. “I said, ‘My photographs will have Black people photographed in a dignified manner.’ “
Documenting street life, famous figures and civil rights
Hult-Lewis said that as a freelance press photographer, Johnson took candid photos of Black celebrities who came to town, such as Nat King Cole, Paul Robeson and Langston Hughes.
“Nat King Cole at Fairmont Hotel, 1949,” by David Johnson.
The David Johnson Photograph Archive, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley
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The David Johnson Photograph Archive, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley
“Nat King Cole at Fairmont Hotel, 1949,” by David Johnson.
The David Johnson Photograph Archive, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley
And he used his camera to spark conversations about civil rights.
“There’s one really iconic photograph of a woman listening to a speech and she’s got kind of a dubious look on her face, but in her glasses are reflected the American flag,” Hult-Lewis said. “There’s another incredible photograph of a young African American boy sitting, holding an American flag in the embrace of a sculpture of Abraham Lincoln.”
Johnson also often participated in direct political action. He attended the 1963 March on Washington, and organized the first Black caucus at the University of California, San Francisco.
“Reflections in Glasses, 1963,” by David Johnson.
The David Johnson Photograph Archive, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley
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The David Johnson Photograph Archive, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley
“Reflections in Glasses, 1963,” by David Johnson.
The David Johnson Photograph Archive, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley
“He was part of a group that successfully sued the San Francisco Unified School District to compel them to more fully desegregate the schools,” Hult-Lewis said.
Johnson never became a big name like his teacher Adams. By the 1980s he’d stopped taking photos altogether.
But interest in Johnson’s work has grown in recent years, as cities across the country grapple with the negative impacts that urban redevelopment can have. His work is in the collection of major institutions including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and was the subject of a solo exhibition at San Francisco City Hall in 2022.
“The photographs tell life, life as it was then, life that cannot be duplicated or recreated in today,” Johnson’s wife, Jacqueline Sue, told KQED in 2013. “It’s a marker of history.”
Prince on the custom motorcycle featured in Purple Rain.
Cinematic/Alamy
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Cinematic/Alamy
Wendy Melvoin, guitarist for Prince’s genre bending band The Revolution, remembers one of their most iconic songs started with an idea — and a challenge — from the boss himself.
Prince broached the topic during a band rehearsal. “He came to the table with this beautiful idea … most of the songs [on the album] had already been done,” says Melvoin, “He said ‘I have this idea and sounds a little like this…whattaya you guys got?’”
What Wendy had was an idea for a mournful cascade of guitar chords that proved the perfect starting point.
“I came up with that intro and that chord progression to get us into the song,” she adds. “And it ended up being one of the most iconic intros to a pop ballad ever.”
The song Purple Rain would become the surprising, anthemic climax for a film of the same name that emerged as one of the most successful and influential musical films in history. The movie hit theaters 40 years ago, breaking barriers in the music world while signaling the ascendancy of Prince as a pop music superstar.
Putting Purple Rain on the silver screen
Filmed around the band’s Minneapolis hometown, Purple Rain had a simple story. Prince’s character — known only as The Kid – is rocked by his dad constantly beating his mother at home, struggling to connect with his bandmembers and a new romantic interest, a beautiful singer named Apollonia.
Drummer Bobby Rivkin, known onstage as Bobby Z, says the idea of showcasing Prince’s songs and The Revolution in a film was inspired by the success of MTV and its focus on music videos.
“Prince was always someone who took a step bigger than the cultural [stuff] that was happening at the times,” he adds. “Once MTV started playing his videos, I think he just gravitated to something bigger and said ‘I’ll just take it to the next level.’’”
Melvoin says she and The Revolution — including Rivkin, keyboardists Lisa Coleman and Matt Fink and bassist Brown Mark — found out they would be working on a movie when Prince announced it in a matter-of-fact way at a rehearsal. But she wasn’t worried about whether she could act or how the band would look onscreen.
“I guess if I had any concern back then, it was just literally, ‘was the story going to be any good?’” she says, laughing. “I didn’t have any doubt the music sequences would be fantastic. But I didn’t have a good sense of whether the narrative of the film was going to work.”
Turns out, it all worked pretty well. Purple Rain was a hit, with the film and its soundtrack earning an Oscar, two Grammy awards and status as a groundbreaking musical film.
It also introduced a film audience to Prince’s scorching performance style, his unerring ability to craft hit tunes, and his distinctive fashion sense. Prince’s network of bands and performers also got some attention – including the girl-fronted group Apollonia 6 and the funk band The Time.
The Time lead singer Morris Day and his onstage foil Jerome Benton became the film’s comic center, with the two riffing on a version of Abbott and Costello’s classic routine “Who’s on First?”.
“Honestly, we weren’t trying to be funny … we always clowned around at the time because we were young,” Day says, responding to questions via email. He noted, even though the cast took acting and dance classes in preparation for filming, “we were just being ourselves. If anything, I was more conscious of being cool than funny.”
Morris Day of The Time performs in Chicago in 1983, before Purple Rain came out.
Raymond Boyd/Getty Images
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Raymond Boyd/Getty Images
He’s not surprised people are still talking about the film four decades after its initial release.
“The film was groundbreaking on so many levels … it was the first of its kind,” adds Day, who says he’s only watched the film in its entirety one time, at its Hollywood premiere on July 26, 1984. “It somehow reminds people of a special period in their lives during the ‘80s, which is a period we all at times wish we could reclaim.”
Building the drama in Purple Rain
Fans know the film tells a more combative story behind the genesis of the song Purple Rain.
Onscreen, Melvoin and her then-girlfriend, keyboardist Lisa Coleman write the song, fighting a reluctant Prince – known only as The Kid in the movie – to let The Revolution play it onstage.
“Everytime we give you a song, you say you’re going to use it, but you never do,” Melvoin shouts at Prince during the scene, delivering some of the best acting from the musicians who mostly fill out the cast. “You think we’re doing something behind your back…you’re just being paranoid as usual.”
When Prince finally agrees to play Purple Rain onstage at the Minneapolis club First Avenue – launching into an emotional rendition topped by one of the best guitar solos in pop music – he wows the crowd and saves the band. But Melvoin says now that the friction they acted out was “movie magic” conjured to build a story; in real life, she, Lisa and Prince were very close collaborators.
Prince, alongside Wendy Melvoin (left) and Lisa Coleman (right) accepts Purple Rain‘s Oscar for best original score in 1985.
HARMS/AFP via Getty
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HARMS/AFP via Getty
Powered by hits like the title track and the percolating dance jam I Would Die 4 U, Purple Rain burst like a lavender-tinged explosion across the pop culture landscape – launching Prince’s growing fame into the stratosphere.
The innovative dance hit When Doves Cry, recorded by Prince with no bass guitar, became his first Number One single on Billboard’s Hot 100 singles list. That was followed by his second Number One single, the rock and soul classic Let’s Go Crazy, which showcased his guitar skills at a time when rock guitar wasn’t heard often on R&B records.
Giving fans a peek behind the mystique
Prince had developed a mystique by rarely talking to the press. So, in the days before YouTube and Tik Tok, Purple Rain offered a sustained – if fictionalized – look at the inner workings of the band and his origin story for fans eager to know more.
And it centered a group of performers who were a mix of identities and ethnicities in the Midwest, making music that crossed all kinds of cultural barriers, at a time when people like that were rarely seen on the silver screen.
“That film was Prince’s version of social media,” Melvoin says. “This is funk rock and nobody’s seen a movie based on this kind of life. It [was] a trip for people to see.”
But there were also criticisms. Many of the film’s performers were amateurs, which showed in their performances. And female characters were often treated badly on screen: in one scene, Jerome Benton gets rid of a hostile woman confronting Day by tossing her into a dumpster.
“Given today’s culture, I’m certain there are moments in the film that ruffle a few feathers,” Day says. “Overall, I would like to think we did something great. And based on the overwhelming majority [of public reaction], I believe we did.”
The film ultimately proved the perfect showcase for Prince’s expansive creativity – from his ruffled shirts and big shouldered clothes to his mix of religion and sexuality in lyrics, innovative ways of recording and his seemingly endless supply of high-quality songs.
Bobby Rivkin, otherwise known as Bobby Z, during a recording session in 1989.
Jim Steinfeldt/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
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Jim Steinfeldt/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
“MTV opened the door a little bit — just a teeny crack of light — and he would kick it open,” Rivkin adds. “He was innovative in fashion and culture. And it was a remarkable time for him. From humble beginnings to control [of] black culture, crossover culture … rock, funk, pop … He was on fire for quite a while.”
Continuing on without the boss
A couple of years and albums later, Prince disbanded The Revolution. But the group has reunited a few times – notably for a benefit concert after Rivkin had his first heart attack in 2010 – and after Prince died in 2016, at age 57 from an accidental fentanyl overdose. More recently, the group came together last month to perform during a five-day event in Minneapolis celebrating Purple Rain’s 40th anniversary.
Both Melvoin and Rivkin say they hope The Revolution can play more shows commemorating Purple Rain’s anniversary over the next year. But they also admit it can be challenging performing without their dynamic leader and frontman, even as playing together helps them process the loss.
“After he passed, it’s the only thing that we could think of to do — to be together and grieve,” Melvoin says.
And what would The Kid himself think about the legacy of his blockbuster film and album? Day says he’s not sure.
“[Prince] never liked staying in the past,” the singer adds. “He was always evolving. Once Purple Rain was done, he was on to the next. But now that I’m thinking about it, he might have thrown a big celebration at Paisley Park for the fans. Probably would have been one hell of a jam session.”
TMZ.com
Josh Flagg says Ben Affleck might actually be putting down roots in Brentwood as opposed to it being a pit stop … telling us he’s heard the guy might be quietly buying a pad there.
We got the ‘Million Dollar Listing’ star at the Plaza Hotel in New York City — and our photog asked him about Ben and Jennifer Lopez publicly listing their Beverly Hills mansion for $68 million … and what the implications for that might be big picture.
Remember … Ben and Jen only just bought the place in 2023, and Josh says the quick flip here makes it look like they are getting divorced … something we’ve been reporting is going to happen for a while now.
We broke the story … Ben and J Lo were quietly trying to sell the estate off-market — but it clearly didn’t work out, and now they’ve going public with the house sale.
TMZ.com
As you know … Ben’s been staying in a Brentwood rental since moving out of the marital Bev Hills mansion, and J Lo’s been spending a lot of time on her own too … first in Europe, and then more recently in New York to celebrate her birthday week.
TMZ Studios
But, get this … Josh says he recently heard Ben was quietly in escrow on something in Brentwood … so BA may not be renting anymore after all — at least that’s what JF’s floating.
As for the Bev Hills mansion — which Ben and Jen paid over $60 million for — Josh explains why Bennifer might not be taking a huge financial hit … although, they definitely ain’t gonna be turning a profit either.
Interesting stuff all around … especially that tidbit about Ben, if it turns out to be right.
Kathleen Hanna of The Julie Ruin performs onstage at the 2016 Panorama NYC Festival – Day 2 at Randall’s Island on July 23, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by Nicholas Hunt/Getty Images)
Nicholas Hunt/Getty Images/Getty Images North America
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Nicholas Hunt/Getty Images/Getty Images North America
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