James Allen (born June 16, 1954) is an American antique collector, known in particular for his collection of 145 photographs of
lynchings in America, published in 2000 with Congressman John Lewis as ''Without Sanctuary: Lynching Photography in America''. The collection includes images of the lynching in 1911 of
Laura and Lawrence Nelson, in Okemah, Oklahoma, and of
Leo Frank
Leo Max Frank (April 17, 1884August 17, 1915) was an American factory superintendent who was convicted in 1913 of the murder of a 13-year-old employee, Mary Phagan, in Atlanta, Georgia. His trial, conviction, and appeals attracted national at ...
in 1915 near Marietta, Georgia.
Background
Allen was raised in Winter Park, Florida, within an Irish-Catholic family of 11 brothers and sisters. In an interview for ''The Los Angeles Times'' in 2000, Allen said he didn't fit in, and was thrown out of the house at 18 when his father discovered he was gay. He developed a fascination for rare objects from a young age, and when he left home began to make a living as a "picker". Some of his objects are now housed by the
Smithsonian and the
High Museum of Art in Atlanta. Allen appeared in the third episode of
BBC's ''
Racism: A History'' documentary series where he displays and discusses part of his photograph collection.
Works
*Allen, James and Lewis, Jon. ''Without Sanctuary: Lynching Photography in America''. Twin Palms Publishers, 2000.
Notes
Further reading
*Allen James
Musarium: Without Sanctuary accessed January 14, 2014.
accessed January 14, 2014.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Allen, James
Lynching in the United States
American collectors
LGBT historians
LGBT people from Florida
Living people
1954 births
Place of birth missing (living people)
People from Winter Park, Florida