Background
Paul Samuel Henderson was born on October 10, 1899 in Springfield, Tennessee and was the youngest of four children born to Ike A. and Annie L. Henderson.
Paul Samuel Henderson was born on October 10, 1899 in Springfield, Tennessee and was the youngest of four children born to Ike A. and Annie L. Henderson.
At some point during his residence in Gary, he attended the School for Professional Photography.
He became well known for taking pictures of large groups and distant objects atop a ladder he carried. Henderson primarily photographed people, including church groups, politicians, graduations, local college and university groups, weddings, events during the African-American Civil Rights Movement, and more. At age 18 he registered for the World War I draft on September 12, 1918 while working as a bricklayer for a steel company in Gary, Indiana.
In 1920 his profession changed to driver for a laundry in Gary.
After leaving Indiana, Henderson worked for a newspaper in Roanoke, Virginia. Henderson moved to Baltimore in 1929 and became what the Baltimore Afro-American newspaper called their first photographer.
Henderson used a large format view camera to produce glass negatives, and eight by ten inch and four by five inch acetate negatives. Henderson photographed National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Baltimore Branch president Lillie Mae Carroll Jackson, Baltimore City Mayor and Maryland State Governor Theodore McKeldin, Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall when he was a lawyer for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, journalist and publisher Carl Murphy, businesses and people along Pennsylvania Avenue, which was once a main artery for black culture and life in Baltimore and much more.
Photograph collection
Henderson bequeathed his photograph and object collection to the Peale Museum.
When the Peale closed its doors in 1997, the collection was transferred to the Maryland Historical Society.
Henderson documented racial segregation and early civil rights protests as well as community members of the Baltimore City"s African-American population.