Duke Ellington

1948–1972

Photographs Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali, Barbra Streisand

In more than twenty years at Life he photographs fashion, sports, Broadway, poverty and racial segregation, as well as portraits of Malcolm X, Stokely Carmichael, Muhammad Ali and Barbra Streisand. Malcolm X asks him to be the godfather of his daughter Qubilah Shabazz.

1950s

Consults on Hollywood productions

In the 1950s he works as a consultant on various Hollywood productions; he will later direct a series of documentaries on Black ghetto life commissioned by National Educational Television.

1960

Named Photographer of the Year

The American Society of Magazine Photographers names him Photographer of the Year.

1960s

Daughter born: Leslie Parks

1962

Meets the editor Genevieve Young

When he begins writing “The Learning Tree”, his publisher assigns him a Chinese-American editor, Genevieve Young, stepdaughter of the Chinese diplomat Wellington Koo. They later become romantically involved, at a time when both are divorcing previous spouses.

1962

Marries Elizabeth Campbell

Marries Elizabeth Campbell, daughter of the cartoonist E. Simms Campbell; the marriage lasts until 1973.