Pioneer Jet photographer Maurice Sorrell dies at age 84 in Washington, D.C

Jet, July 13, 1998

Maurice Sorrell, a photographer for JET and EBONY Magazines in the nation's capital for more than three decades, died June 22nd at Providence Hospital in D.C. of a heart ailment. He was 84 years old.

For a man who had been denied photographic training at the Pentagon because of his race and then began taking pictures as an inexperienced freelancer, Sorrell became a very inspirational institution in the nation's capital.

He joined the White House Photographers Association as the first Black member after a dispute which reached national proportions. John F. Kennedy, president at that time, was criticized at a press conference for planning to attend an awards banquet of the lily-white photographers' group.

Kennedy's face reddened and he stumbled over words trying to imply that he would investigate the discrimination. The questioner was a JET Magazine reporter creating a situation that made Sorrell the only candidate for the diversity assignment. He was a photographer for the Afro-American Newspapers in Washington.

The sudden elevation of Sorrell was his career high point. And Sorrell never forgot it. He was determined to take advantage of' the opportunity. A few weeks later, he joined the Johnson Publishing Washington team.

Through his eyes and camera lens, the rich legacy of Black American history was recorded from the Jim Crow era to the earliest days of integration.

As a JPC photographer, he traveled to more than 24 countries and covered nine American presidents. He took the first portrait of the Congressional Black Caucus. He traveled throughout 'the South, covering many of the historic moments of the Civil Rights Movement.

Seven official trips to Africa included accompanying such officials as Vice President Hubert Humphrey, Secretary of State Dean Rusk, Secretary of State William Rogers, and Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall.

He accompanied the body of civil rights leader Whitney Young to the U.S. Young died in 1971 of a heart attack while swimming near Lagos.

When Blacks visited the White House, they often looked for "the little guy with the curly locks from JPC" who would take their picture and record their special place in history.

Recalling that Sorrell photographed him and President Lyndon Johnson at the White House Oval Office, JET Publisher John H. Johnson said that the treasured photo is on prominent display at the company's Chicago headquarters.

"The year after he came to Johnson Publishing, Maurice Sorrell was one of our main photographers to document the historic 1963 March on Washington," said Publisher Johnson.

"His coverage of the freedom movement has become legendary. U.S. Secretary of Transportation Rodney Slater recently displayed Sorrell's work in a photographic exhibit honoring the Selma to Montgomery March," Johnson added.

Happily married 52 years to his wife, Bea, a public health nurse, he's also survived by a sister, Lillian Strange. Sorrell converted his home to a living museum. Trophies and citations abound in the attractive home as a reminder of the trail that brought him such happiness.