FOR RELEASE: July 28, 1999

Pulitzer Prize-Winning Photographer to Talk
About His Years with the Los Angeles Times

Roland Charles, executive director of Black Photographers of California, said the forum and Williamsıs talk are great ways to introduce the campus, and the San Fernando Valley, to BPC and its work. BPC moved to CSUN this summer after operating the past 14 years out of a storefront in the Santa Barbara Plaza in the Crenshaw district of Los Angeles.

"The Photographers' Roundtable is one of our most consistent programs. Itıs a monthly forum at which photographers show their work and we discuss the issues that affect photography and introduce new and innovative technology," Charles said. "As a Pulitzer Prize winner, Clarence is an ideal subject for kicking off our first roundtable at CSUN."

Black Photographers of California is dedicated to presenting and preserving the work of established and emerging African American photographers and preserving African American history and culture through photography.

Williams' talk, "Five Years with the Los Angeles Times," is the organization's first official function at the university. It will feature displays of Williams' work, and take place at 7 p.m. in Room 348 of Jerome Richfield Hall on the west side of the campus.

Williams, a staff photographer for the Los Angeles Times, has covered a wide range of stories, from the Los Angeles County Jail system to the children of drug-addicted parents, for which he won a Pulitzer Prize in 1997. He received numerous awards for his work that year, including the Robert R. Kennedy Photojournalism Award and Journalist of the Year from the National Association of Black Journalists.

Future roundtable guests include noted Southern California photographer Bruce Talamon and Northern California photo artist Keba Konte.

Charles said he is excited about the move to the Northridge campus.

"The goals of the university are in line with the aims of our organization," Charles said.

BPC will be housed in the College of Humanities where it will work with the Center for Photojournalism and Visual History and the Center for Humanities.

]Jorge Garcia, dean of the College of Humanities, welcomed BPC to the university.

"We're happy to see this affiliation," Garcia said. "The BPC's goal of preserving the visual image of a community and culture fits right in with the university's mission of working with the community. BPC also is preserving a record that is as great resource for research and teaching."

For more information about the about the forums or the organization, visit BPC's web site at www.blackphotographers.org, or call (818) 677-7872 between the hours of 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Direct emails to BPC at roland@blackphotographers.org.