Howard Bingham was born in Jackson, Mississippi, where his father was a minister and Pullman car porter for the railroad. His family moved to South Central Los Angeles in search of a better life when Bingham was four years old. He was a music major at Compton Junior College.

After Bingham failed a course in photography, his teacher said it wouldn’t be prudent for him to pursue a career in that field. Bingham was subsequently kicked out of school, because his grades weren’t up to par. Through sheer persistence, he got a job as a photographer with a weekly community newspaper.

Bingham met a brash young boxer named Cassius Clay while on an assignment for the newspaper. It was the beginning of a lifelong friendship. Bingham met Bill Cosby when he visited the set of I Spy with Clay. The actor subsequently created an opportunity for Bingham to qualify to join the Camera Guild in 1969 as a still photographer on The Bill Cosby Show. That is how Howard Bingham became the first Black person to work on a Hollywood camera Guild crew.

He subsequently worked on various television shows and on such feature films as The Candidate, All The President’s Men, The Electric Horseman and Ghost Dad. That is just one dimension of his multi-faceted career. As a photographer for Life, Look, Time, Newsweek, Sports Illustrated, People, Ebony and other international magazines, Bingham has documented many of the most important events and personalities in contemporary times, including the civil rights movement.

His book Muhammud Ali: A 30-Year Journey chronicles the life and career of one of the 20th century’s influential personalities. The Rochester Institute of Technology offers a scholarship in his name to a deserving minority photography student. The Watt’s Labor Community Action Committee is planning a media center in his name for the purpose of teaching photography to young people who live in South Los Angeles. Bingham has documented much of the history of our times with millions of still images. This is just a snapshot of Howard Bingham’s extraordinary life and career. The final chapters haven’t been written.