Self-portrait, summer 1980

All photos on this page were taken with the Minolta XG-SE -- my college graduation gift.

In 1990, while dropping off a roll of 35mm film   at the Eckerd Drug store photo lab on Flat Shoals Rd in Decatur, I noticed the store manager tossing rolls of film in the garbage.  The manager said it was film that didn't sell and was close to expiration. Back then, very few people used 35mm slide film for their family photos, so they were stuck with about 200-300 rolls of slide film that didn't sell. So instead of the film ending up in the landfill, I asked/persuaded the manager to give me a few rolls of film; He gave me almost (70) rolls of Ektachrome 100/200/400 slide film--free.   Almost all of the photos on this page come from those rolls of free 35mm slide film..... "one mans' trash, is another mans' treasure..."        

---

ancient ceremonial sites 1990-1995

Rock Eagle--Ancient ceremonial site--Eatonton, Georgia. circa 1992

Ocmulgee mound complex -- Macon, Georgia spring 1992

Ocmulgee ceremonial mound-- Macon, GA - Spring 1992

Etowah -- Cartersville, Georgia 1994

Etowah mound complex, built around 900 AD -- Cartersville, Georgia circa 1991

Moundville Archeological Site -- Tuscaloosa, Alabama circa 1992

Ocmulgee Macon, Georgia-- Fall 1993

Southern black churches 1991-1996

First African Baptist Church - Savannah, GA circa 1993 (the oldest black church in the USA - and a key stop on the underground railroad)

Each pew in the balcony at First African Baptist in Savannah, GA has distinct markings that were written back in the early 1800's to 'mark their seats'. In 1992, I photographed each pew, using (2) rolls of 35mm color slide film and (1) roll of Black & white negative film. Dr. Robert Farris Thompson of Yale University called it "Spirit Writing" or "Writing in the Spirit". Some scholars see similarities with Arabic but the writings have yet to be connected to its origins.     

First Bryan Baptist Church--Savannah, Georgia circa 1994

16th Street Baptist Church - Birmingham, Alabama circa 1991 -- An important landmark of American history

Tabernacle Baptist Church-- Beaufort, South Carolina 1992

Rockdale County Georgia circa 1990

Springfield Baptist Church -- Greene County, Greensboro, Georgia circa 1991

Beaufort, South Carolina circa 1992

First African Baptist-- Tuscaloosa, Alabama circa 1992

Friendship Baptist Church, circa 1995, the oldest black church in Atlanta--now torn down to build a new football stadium for the Atlanta Falcons

Ebenezer Baptist Church circa 1994-- home of Dr Martin Luther King jr and his father, Daddy King. One of the incubators of Liberation Theology

photos from the book
"a place to remember"

(Photo above) Bethel African Methodist Episcopal church, Acworth, Georgia built in 1878. The church is now listed on the National Registry of Historic Places.  Photo by Brian Lassiter, 2002 from the book, "A Place to Remember" by Patrice Shelton Lassiter, Powerpointe Publishing 2004.

(Photo Right) Zion Hill Missionary Baptist church, Acworth, Georgia, built in 1914. Founded by former slaves circa 1864. Still an active part of a small black community in North Georgia. Photo by Brian Lassiter, 2002.

southern landscapes

Panola Mountain State Park

near Red Top Mountain - Georgia 1992

Old Slave Market-- Louisville, Georgia circa 1992

Slave Cemetery near Brunswick, Georgia 1993

Downtown Birmingham, Alabama - across from the 16th Street Baptist Church 1992

mexico 1993 & 1996

urban landscapes 1980-1993

East side Atlanta, Georgia 1992

Candler Road -- Decatur, Georgia circa 1990

Peachtree Street near Colony Square - Atlanta, Georgia circa 1993

Cloud watching -- Decatur, Georgia circa 1994

Looking out on the Hudson River, New York 1980

Union Carbide, Westchester County, New York Fall 1980

family photographs from the archives 1890-1950

Rev Nelson Tate & the Second Baptist Church family- Metuchen, New Jersey

Doc Bullock born Sept 28,1848 in North Carolina. He was 17 years old at the end of the Civil War in 1865. My great, great grandfather on my mothers side. 

Rev Nelson D. Tate, born 1870, my mothers grandfather & his mother, Arena Tate who was born a slave in North Carolina, she lived thru the Civil War and died free. Photo circa 1920

Candace B. Lassiter, mother of Rev Grover C. Lassiter, my Great Grandmother, born a slave near Elizabeth City, North Carolina, but died a free woman. 

Rev. Grover C. Lassiter, my grandfather, both of his parents were born slaves, but died free. He earned a masters degree from Howard University in 1915 and sent all three of his children to college; two earned masters degrees.

My Dad, Cleveland F. Lassiter, World War II circa 1944. After Pearl Harbor, he volunteered for the US Army as a junior in college and served in the segregated US Army. When he returned home from the War, he finished his undergraduate degree at Virginia Union University and with the G.I. Bill,  went on to earn a masters degree from Howard University in 1949.

At the Jersey shore, Ethel "Nana" Clements, my great grandmother & her 2 daughters, Dorothy Octavia Clements, my grandmother, far left and her older sister, Katherine. The two sisters married two brothers--Nelson Tate & Clarence Tate