How a Surprise Discovery of Photographs From the 1960s Meets the Moment

The New York Times: Race/Related

Not long after his mother passed away in 2018, a massive relic from Jeffrey Henson Scales’ childhood was unexpectedly found in his family’s home. His stepfather and older brother were preparing the house for an eventual sale when they came across a trove of 40 rolls of film.

 

“We think these are probably yours,” they told Mr. Scales, a photographer and a photo editor at The New York Times.

 

Included in the rolls were photographs that Mr. Scales had taken when he was a teenager — images that captured major cultural, political and social moments of the 1960s. There were pictures of student protests in Berkeley, Calif., photos of Jimi Hendrix, Sly and the Family Stone at the famous Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco, and about 15 rolls of the Black Panther Party.

September 4, 2021