Glenalvin J. Goodridge

Glenalvin J. Goodridge (c. 1829 – November 14, 1867) was an American photographer from York, Pennsylvania. He was among the first African-American photographers. an ex-slave. He married his wife, Rhoda Cornelia Grey, on June 10, 1851, and their son Glen J. Goodridge was born in 1860.

From 1847 to 1851, Goodridge was primarily a teacher at the "Colored High School" in York, a role he continued part-time thereafter.

With his brothers, Wallace Goodridge and William O. Goodridge, he operated a photo studio in York, and later in East Saginaw, Michigan. The Saginaw studio was closed by Wallace in 1922. Pennsylvania governor Andrew G. Curtin pardoned Goodridge. While incarcerated, he contracted tuberculosis, which led to his death in Minneapolis on November 14, 1867.

Legacy In 2018, a reproduction of the photo studio he operated with his brothers, Wallace and William O., opened within the Goodridge Freedom Center in York, Pennsylvania. In 2021, many of his daguerreotypes were acquired for the collection of the Smithsonian American Art Museum.