Francisco Luis Espada Roig (21 December 1930 – 16 February 2014) was an American

photojournalist Photojournalism is journalism that uses images to tell a news story. It usually only refers to still images, but can also refer to video used in broadcast journalism. Photojournalism is distinguished from other close branches of photography (such ...

, photographer, activist, educator, and

community organizer Community organizing is a process where people who live in proximity to each other or share some common problem come together into an organization that acts in their shared self-interest. Unlike those who promote more-consensual community bui ...

. Frank Espada founded East New York Action in the early 1960s.

Early life

Espada was born in 1930 in

Utuado, Puerto Rico Utuado () is a town and municipality of Puerto Rico located in the central mountainous region of the island known as the '' Cordillera Central''. It is located north of Adjuntas and Ponce; south of Hatillo and Arecibo; east of Lares; and west ...

. His family migrated to New York City in 1939. After high school, he attended

City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a public university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York City. Founded in 1847, Cit ...

but soon left without finishing his studies, instead joining the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

during the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

. Espada married his wife, Marilyn, in 1952. Together they raised two boys and one girl: Jason, Lisa, and

Martín Espada Martín Espada (born 1957) is a Puerto Rican-American poet, and a professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he teaches poetry. Puerto Rico has frequently been featured as a theme in his poems. Life and career Espada was born ...

. Under the

G.I. Bill The Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, commonly known as the G.I. Bill, was a law that provided a range of benefits for some of the returning World War II veterans (commonly referred to as G.I.s). The original G.I. Bill expired in 1956, bu ...

, Espada was able to attend The

New York Institute of Photography The New York Institute of Photography (or NYIP) is a for-profit online school based out of New York City, offering different courses in photography to students all over the world. NYIP currently offers ten courses in photography. History The New ...

in New York City, where he studied documentary photography. He studied under and was mentored directly by

W. Eugene Smith William Eugene Smith (December 30, 1918 – October 15, 1978) was an American photojournalist.Peacock, Scot. "W(illiam) Eugene Smith." ''Contemporary Authors Online'', Gale, 2003. ''Biography In Context'' He has been described as "perhaps the si ...

as well as Dave Heath. To support his family he worked as an

electrical contractor An electrical contractor is a business person or firm that performs specialized construction work related to the design, installation, and maintenance of electrical systems. An electrical contractor is different from an electrician; an electricia ...

for ten years.

Political activism

Espada became involved in the

civil rights movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional Racial segregation in the United States, racial segregation, Racial discrimination ...

prior to 1967 when he joined The City-Wide Puerto Rican Development Program, then under the direction of Manny Díaz. He worked as a community organizer in New York City's most vulnerable and impoverished areas. Espada organized strikes against rent increases, voter registration drives,

sit-in A sit-in or sit-down is a form of direct action that involves one or more people occupying an area for a protest, often to promote political, social, or economic change. The protestors gather conspicuously in a space or building, refusing to mo ...

s of welfare recipients and mothers,

public school Public school may refer to: * State school (known as a public school in many countries), a no-fee school, publicly funded and operated by the government * Public school (United Kingdom), certain elite fee-charging independent schools in England an ...

boycotts,

marches In medieval Europe, a march or mark was, in broad terms, any kind of borderland, as opposed to a national "heartland". More specifically, a march was a border between realms or a neutral buffer zone under joint control of two states in which diff ...

for safer streets and civil and political rights. In 1979, Espada was awarded a grant from the

National Endowment for the Humanities The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent federal agency of the U.S. government, established by thNational Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965(), dedicated to supporting research, education, preserv ...

which allowed him to focus on documenting the struggle of Puerto Rican communities in the US. Espada had been active and involved with the

National Welfare Rights Organization The National Welfare Rights Organization (NWRO) was an American activist organization that fought for the welfare rights of people, especially women and children. The organization had four goals: adequate income, dignity, justice, and democratic p ...

, the National Latino Media Coalition, the National Congress for Puerto Rican Rights, the National Hispanic Manpower Association, and the National Association of Puerto Rican Drug Abuse Programs. In 1985, he moved his family to San Francisco.

Photography

Espada was primarily known as a documentary photographer, and especially for his book and his documentary photography project entitled ''The Puerto Rican Diaspora: Themes in the Survival of a People'' in which he showcased his photography circa early-1960s to mid-1980s. Espada is known for his work in photography's physical as well as its digital

darkroom A darkroom is used to process photographic film, to make prints and to carry out other associated tasks. It is a room that can be made completely dark to allow the processing of the light-sensitive photographic materials, including film and ph ...

s. He became a teacher of photography at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

. He also taught photography and darkroom techniques at the

Academy of Art University The Academy of Art University (AAU or ART U), formerly Academy of Art College and Richard Stephens Academy of Art, is a private for-profit art school in San Francisco, California. It was founded as the Academy of Advertising Art by Richard S. S ...

and the

San Francisco Art Institute San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) was a private college of contemporary art in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1871, SFAI was one of the oldest art schools in the United States and the oldest west of the Mississippi River. Approximately ...

. A legion of private students and mentees of all ages and ideologies who enrolled in one-on-one invite-only groups for private seminars and darkroom instruction were also welcomed into Espada's house. On the 109th Anniversary of the US Invasion of Puerto Rico, Espada with his then grown son, poet

University of Massachusetts Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst, UMass) is a public research university in Amherst, Massachusetts and the sole public land-grant university in Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Founded in 1863 as an agricultural college, it ...

professor

, appeared on a segment of ''

Democracy Now! ''Democracy Now!'' is an hour-long American TV, radio, and Internet news program hosted by journalists Amy Goodman (who also acts as the show's executive producer), Juan González, and Nermeen Shaikh. The show, which airs live each weekday at ...

'', a daily, independent, global news hour with

Amy Goodman Amy Goodman (born April 13, 1957) is an American broadcast journalist, syndicated columnist, investigative reporter, and author. Her investigative journalism career includes coverage of the East Timor independence movement, Morocco's occupation ...

and Juan Gonzalez. Working with Youth Environment Study (YES) founded by Harvey Feldman, Espada photographed and documented the devastating effect

HIV/AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual ...

had wrought on the often-neglected and underserved population of people who abused drugs. He also photographed the physical beauty that surrounded him throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. Much of Espada's work, including some of his photographs and partial papers from 1946 to 2010, are now housed by the

Duke University Libraries Duke University Libraries is the library system of Duke University, serving the university's students and faculty. The Libraries collectively hold some 6 million volumes. The collection contains 17.7 million manuscripts, 1.2 million public documen ...

in their Rubenstein Library. The

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...

acquired an 83-print portfolio, and in 2010 Duke University Libraries acquired a selection of Espada's work, including over 200 finished prints, a portion of his papers, and material related to the ''Diaspora'' project.
CDS Porch. News from the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University. From the Archive: Remembering Frank Espada. By Publishing-Intern on March 17, 2014. Posted in CDS Recommends.

Works

References

External links

* * *Library of Congress. Prints & Photographs Reading Room. Prints & Photographs Online Catalog
Espada, Frank, 1930-
{{DEFAULTSORT:Espada, Frank 1930 births 2014 deaths American journalists of Puerto Rican descent American social activists American photojournalists Documentary photographers New York Institute of Photography alumni People from Utuado, Puerto Rico United States Air Force airmen University of California, Berkeley faculty Activists from California