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Hooks Brothers Photography on display at Stax Museum

By Pamela Perkins
perkins@commercialappeal.com

The image of the bright-eyed little girl in a bright little dress who stares in wonder at a line of black-robed college graduates is a mystery.

So, too, are youngsters at a party in fancy suits and fancy dresses and many other faces that have been nameless for decades.

But that could change with the "Hooks Brothers Photography: 75 Years of African-American Life in Memphis" exhibit, running now through April 23 at the Stax Museum of American Soul Music at 926 E. McLemore.

A reception for the show, which opened Wednesday, will be 2 to 5 p.m. Feb. 12 in observance of Black History Month.

The exhibit includes 80 black and white portraits, candid snapshots and historic images taken by the old, family-owned Hooks Photography studio that operated in Memphis from 1907 to 1984.

"Stax was so much a part of the Memphis community and the Hooks Brothers documented the Memphis community. So I think it's a good fit," said Carol Drake, the museum exhibits, archives and education manager.

Brothers Henry A. Hooks and Robert B. Hooks -- the uncle and father, respectively, of local civil rights leader and minister Dr. Benjamin Hooks -- founded the studio on Main Street. It moved from there to Beale. After 40 years it moved to Linden Avenue, where the brothers also ran a photography school.

In the 1970s, the studio moved to 979 E. McLemore, a few doors away from the old Stax Records studio site on which the museum now stands.

Among the longest-run black-owned businesses in town, Hooks Brothers was the popular place for local black residents to get their portraits taken.

The exhibit's images are on loan from Delta State University in Cleveland, Miss. The National Civil Rights Museum displayed some of them, different from those at Stax, in 2004.

Delta State has about 10,000 photos along with countless film negatives and turn-of-the-century glass negatives from the old photography studio.

Several faces in the Stax exhibit are easily identifiable: Benjamin Hooks and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. shake hands in one image. Business and political leader Robert Church Jr. throws the first pitch at a Memphis Negro League game at Red Sox park in 1932 in another.

University archivists have had a tough time identifying less notable people. The collection came to them in a jumble in 1999 from a donor who was not a Hooks family member. Cards showing names and other particulars only referred to negatives.

But most of the photos had no corresponding negatives and vice versa, said Emily Weaver, Delta State's archivist.

That makes the exhibit an investigation, as well. Stax and university officials hope visitors will help them with names and settings.

Weaver said, "It's great to get them back to the community that they came from so we can learn more about the images that we have ... from the folks who stayed in Memphis and who recognize these images."

-- Pamela Perkins: 529-6514



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PHOTO EXHIBIT

What: The "Hooks Brothers Photography: 75 Years of African-American Life in Memphis" exhibit of 80 pictures

When: Now through April 23; Opening reception 2-5 p.m. Feb. 12

Where: Stax Museum of American Soul Music, 926 E. McLemore

Cost: Free with museum admission of $9 for the general public. Free to museum members.

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