Open Access

For this article, I would like to present the process of my becoming aware of the work of Charlotte Paige Carroll, an African American woman photographer active in Chicago during the 1920s-1940s. This period, notably marked by the Harlem Renaissance – a flourishing of African American art and culture – fostered a modern Black subjectivity known as the “New Negro”. More of an international movement of Black consciousness than a phenomenon that was limited to a particular geography, the Harlem Renaissance promoted a period of cultural growth, economic investment and political agency. It is within this context that Carroll, with her partner J.C. Schlink, owned and operated Electric Studio. Electric Studio’s photographs were published in nationally circulating newspapers and magazines, and aspects of Carroll’s life were chronicled in the Black media of the day, yet despite the significant contributions of Carroll or Electric Studio their extensive efforts do not appear in the chronicle of photography’s history. For numerous reasons this absence is a history in and of itself that necessitates careful consideration in both methodology and approach.