Veteran photojournalist to speak at MSU Media Day

Apr. 17—MANKATO — "Life Lessons in Photography" is the working title veteran photojournalist Johnny Crawford chose for his Media Day presentation Tuesday on the campus of Minnesota State University.

"I'm preparing for the presentation, and I've changed what I'm going to talk about about five times," Crawford said from his home in Jackson, Georgia.

He photographed several Olympic games and five U.S. presidents and has a master's degree in photojournalism from Ohio University and bachelor's degrees in psychology and mass communications from Morehouse College. He may talk about those experiences, he said.

It's just as likely Crawford will start out with this explanation of why a man who spent 28 years as a staff photographer for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution now has a resume listing that describes himself as a visual storyteller and educator.

In 2013, a short time after he photographed President Obama's visit to a pre-kindergarten center at Decatur, Georgia, Crawford was assigned to shoot pictures to go with a news story about a couple on trial for the gruesome murder of their young child. The veteran photojournalist had been called on many times before to shoot images related to horrific events.

"I didn't want to do that again."

His prayer was answered: a layoff notice that put a close to his long career.

Crawford said the MSU presentation Tuesday may begin with a focus on his family and their influences on his life and career. He and his grandfather shared a nightly news-watching routine that began when Crawford was quite young. The elder news buff would field questions about what they'd just viewed on television.

"Things I distinctly remember are when Dr. King was killed and asking him, 'What are all these numbers they keep talking about?'" The newscasts routinely announced how many American soldiers were being killed in Vietnam.

"Fast forward to 1983, and I am working as an intern on a photography project at a VA medical center," Crawford said.

His duties were to take photos of patients before and after surgeries; sometimes his work was done in the autopsy ward.

"It was at a time when cases of Agent Orange began to hit," said Crawford, referring to the surge of veterans seeking treatment for illnesses suspected to be related to exposure to the chemical used for defoliating jungles.

Media Day attendees probably will want to know more about Crawford's Vietnam Black Soldiers Portrait Project. On display throughout MSU's campus are banners showing his present-day portraits of veterans who served in Southeast Asia.

Included on the banners are stories of veterans' lives before they joined or were drafted and descriptions of what they did after the war ended.

The project is Crawford's mission to educate Americans about the Black men and women who — although they were being oppressed back home — served, suffered and died while fighting for democracy and civil rights on behalf of people from another country.

The project was inspired by the stories of the many Black veterans Crawford has met over the years.

"I want people to know they contributed ... they fought for America."

Jen Tiernan, a mass communication faculty member at MSU, organized Crawford's visit, made possible by the university's College of Arts and Humanities Nadine B. Andreas Endowment. The daughter of a Vietnam vet, she's became fascinated by photographs he snapped of his service buddies.

"I've spent hours and hours going through shoeboxes full of his photos," she said.

Tiernan's department's mission includes teaching students about media technologies and how to create stories, as well as how to think critically about media institutions and how to foster the public good by advancing socially responsible mass communication.

Tiernan found out about Crawford's project while working on research for her ongoing Vietnam veterans project.