Thomas E. Askew

Thomas E. Askew (c. 1847 – July 12, 1914) was an African American photographer based in Atlanta, Georgia. He was among the earliest Black professional photographers in Atlanta, and is best known as a principal contributor to W. E. B. Du Bois's Exhibit of American Negroes at the 1900 Paris Exposition.

Career Askew began his photography career in the 1880s, working at the studio of downtown Atlanta photographer C. W. Motes before opening his own studio in his home at 114 Summit Avenue. His subjects included his own family, members of Atlanta's Black middle class, and students and faculty at Atlanta University, including students of Spelman College.

Paris Exposition contribution For the 1900 Paris Exposition, Du Bois and Thomas Junius Calloway assembled an exhibit on African American life and progress that included some 500 photographs, displayed alongside statistical charts and a library of books by Black authors. Many of Askew's photographs were included in three bound albums titled Types of American Negroes and Negro Life in Georgia, U.S.A.

Death and legacy Askew died on July 12, 1914, and was buried at Atlanta's Oakland Cemetery. In 2026, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution produced a Black History Month series re-creating Du Bois's Paris Exposition project, in which Askew's role as the photographer behind many of the original images was highlighted.