"Charles "Tennie Harris"(October 27,1908-June 12,1908)

Was born in Pittsburgh,Pennsylvania.The youngest son William A.& Ella

Mae "Olga" Taliaferro Harris who lived in the Hill District of Pittsburgh,the family owned the Masio Hotel on Wylie Avenue.Early in the 1930s he purchased his first camera and opened a photography studio.Charles freelance for the Washington,D.C. news picture magazine,Flash! From 1935-1975 he chronicled life in the African American communities of the city Pittsburgh Courier,one of America's oldest African American newspaper.He was nicknamed "One Shot"became he rarely made his subjects sit for retakes.Charles took on more than 80,000 images during his career.The body of his work constitutes arguably the largest and most complete photographic documentation of a minority community in the U.S.Charles attended Watt School,now the Robert L.Vann School,after graduating he worked as a chauffeur and mechanic with his brother William "Woggle Harris until 1938.Woogle also owned the Crystal Barber Shop on Wylie Avenue and was involved in the "numbers"or "policy"lottery.In the late 1920s Charles became a founding member of the Pittsburgh Crawford, a sandlot baseball team.He even played for them until 1930,when the Crawford entered Negro League competition.During that time,in 1929,Charles bought his first professional camera with money from his brother.He began taking photographs of local and visiting celebrities for Washington-based! Magazine Flash! not long after this Charles married Ruth M.Butler;they had one son Charles A.Harris,they separated around 1932.Four years later,Charles became a freelance photographer for the Pittsburgh Courier.In 1938,he opened his studio in Pittsburgh's Hill District at 2128 Center Avenue.In 1944,he married Elsa L.Elliott and had four children:Ira Vann Harris,Lionel L.Harris,Crystal Harris,and Cheryl Harris.In 1953 Charles closed his studio,he did not retire from the Pittsburgh Courier until 1975.In 1986,he signed a management agreement with Dennis Morgan,Pittsburgh artist and entrepreneur,for his photographic works.He died at his home where he lived for most of his life.Charles archive is housed in the African Studies Department of the University of Pittsburgh.