Irving Henry Webster Phillips Sr.
Irving Henry Webster Phillips Sr. (January 16, 1920 – November 22, 1993), was an African American photojournalist from Baltimore, Maryland.
Irving Henry Webster Phillips Sr.
- Name
- I.
- Birth Name
- Irving Henry Webster Phillips Sr.
- Born
- 16 January 1920
- Birthplace
- Baltimore, Maryland, US
- Died
- 22 November 1993
- Place of death
- Baltimore, Maryland
- Occupation
- Photojournalist
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Documentary summary
Irving Henry Webster Phillips Sr. (January 16, 1920 – November 22, 1993), was an African American photojournalist from Baltimore, Maryland.
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In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — I. Henry Phillips • Birth Name — Irving Henry Webster Phillips Sr. • Other Names — I. Henry Phillips • Born — 16 January 1920 • Birthplace — Baltimore, Maryland, US • Died — 22 November 1993 • Place of death — Baltimore, Maryland • Occupation — Photojournalist • Employer — The Baltimore Afro-American
Life and career
Life and career
In the summer of 1946, after serving in the European and African theatres of World War II, he became chief photographer at the Baltimore Afro-American, one of the nation's leading Black newspaper. He held this job, overseeing seven other photojournalists, till his retirement in 1972. Phillips Sr. covered local and national news events such as the 1963 March on Washington, five presidential elections, and Martin Luther King Jr.'s funeral, as well as taking photos of celebrities such as Billie Holiday and Duke Ellington and documenting ordinary Black lives in Baltimore. After retiring from the newspaper, Phillips took photographs for the NAACP. He died at Baltimore's Union Memorial Hospital on November 22, 1993, at the age of 73.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1920
Irving Henry Webster Phillips Sr. born.
1993
Irving Henry Webster Phillips Sr. died.
Legacy
Phillips' son and grandson followed in his footsteps, with his son working as a staff photographer for The Baltimore Sun in the 1970s and 1980s. In 1999, Maryland Public Television broadcast Images of Maryland, 1900–2000, a documentary film that featured a 10-minute segment on Phillips Sr. In 2018, Baltimore City Hall hosted an exhibit of photos from the Phillips family archive, spanning the work of all three generations. From December 2025 to February 2026, Phillips' photos of Baltimore’s Black workers and business owners were featured in an exhibit at the Baltimore Museum of Industry, co-curated by his grandson, Webster Phillips.
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Kaltenbach, Chris. For the Phillips family, 70 years of capturing Baltimore's African-American experience. The Baltimore Sun.
- 2.Rites in Baltimore for I. Henry Phillips, 73, Afro-American News Photog. Jet. 85. 9. 16–17. December 27, 1993. 0021-5996.
- 3.McCauley, Mary Carole. On the front lines: Baltimore photographers recall documenting 1968 riots. The Baltimore Sun. March 30, 2018.
- 4.February 2020, Ron Cassie. Picture This. Baltimore Magazine. 2020-02-05.
- 5.Baltimore Photographer I. Henry Phillips Sr. 1999.
- 6.The Daily Hustle: The Photographs of I. Henry Phillips, Sr. Baltimore Museum of Industry. December 2025.
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 18 August 2026.
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