Though born in Fayetteville, North Carolina, in 1883, Addison Scurlock moved to D.C. after high school and eventually established a business in the nation’s capital that beautifully chronicled the history of local Black life and excellence.
His great-grandson, Juvaughn Scurlock, said he has always been inspired by his ancestor’s work and legacy.
“I loved how nuanced my great-grandfather’s work was,” said Scurlock’s great-grandson, who has worked in many artistic roles, such as a photographer, stylist, creative director and now in the beauty industry.
The modern-day multihyphenate artist said his great-grandfather photographed Black elites, but also took his photography to the activism streets.
“He photographed the elites – there was actually a time where it was said that you weren’t elite, or a Black elite, until you got your photo taken by the Scurlocks. But he also liked to capture the riots and all the craziness that was going on in the city. So it wasn’t all glamorous,” Juvaughn Scurlock told The Informer. “I just always think about that when I think about my work. And I want it to have deeper meanings.”
Becoming a Photographer, Establishing Scurlock Studio
From 1901 to 1904, Addison Scurlock apprenticed under a white photographer Moses P. Rice, in order to learn the ins and outs of the photography craft.
In 1904, he opened the first Scurlock Studio in his parent’s home on S Street NW. When his family moved to Florida Avenue in 1906, the studio relocated there as well; then the same happened when the Scurlocks moved to T Street NW.
At the famous Scurlock Studio located at 900 U Street NW, which opened in 1911, the entrepreneur created a display case with his work that attracted the many people who passed by his establishment in the heart of the U Street corridor, then known as D.C.’s Black Broadway.
Scurlock’s journey to photography fame came with a sense of pride and emphasis on Black excellence.
Prior to Scurlock, people such as abolitionist, orator, and author Frederick Douglass, emphasized the importance of photography for African Americans. Douglass, who also lived in Washington, D.C., was the most photographed American of the 19th century.
“What was once the special and exclusive luxury of the rich and great is now the privilege of all. The humblest servant girl may now possess a picture of herself such as the wealth of kings could not purchase 50 years ago,” Douglass once said.
With early 20th-century photographers such as Scurlock capturing Black artists, entrepreneurs, activists, scholars, celebrations, church events and more, photography became a major way of showcasing African Americans in a positive light and capturing the nuanced nature of the Black culture.
In the 1930s, the entrepreneur’s sons Robert and George Scurlock, joined the family business, the latter of which is Juvaughn Scurlock’s grandfather.
Throughout the business’ 90-year history, notable African Americans including W.E.B. Du Bois, Madame C.J. Walker, Carter G. Woodson, Marian Anderson, Mary Church Terrell, and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. sat for a Scurlock Studios portrait.
While the business’s founder died in 1964 at the age of 81, Scurlock Studios continued until Robert Scurlock’s passing in 1994.
Juvaughn Scurlock told The Informer how he carries the legacy of his ancestors today.
“It makes me feel proud to be Black, just knowing all that they accomplished and how strong they were,” he said of his great-grandfather, grandfather and great-uncle.
The local creative emphasized he comes from a long legacy of Black storytelling greatness. A lot of people even don’t know this, but my grandmother was actually one of the first … fashion editors at the Afro [American] Newspapers.”
Juvaughn told The Informer he’s proud to walk in the Scurlock family legacy.
“[My ancestors] accomplished a lot and so it just makes me feel proud,” he said. “It makes me feel like anything is possible.”