Black photographers - 19th Century Colorado Photographers

James M. Goins was born circa 1850 in Ohio. At the time of the 1860 federal census, Goins, listed as an artist with the last name of Goings, was living with the well-known Black photographer, James Presley Ball, in Cincinnati. His reported age on the census was seventeen, but he was probably younger.

In 1869 he opened a photography gallery in Chicago, Illinois, with J. G. Johnson. Goins remained in Chicago for nearly a decade, offering cartes de visite and opal miniatures. He also made enlargements from old and faded photographs and photographs colored on oil, India Ink, or watercolor.

In 1879, he moved to St. Paul, Minnesota, but he left that city owing money to creditors. In 1881, Goins continued the photographic trade in Denver, remaining in town for only one year.

Goins portrait — Goines, photographer. Portrait of an Unidentified Black man, 1888-1889. Photo courtesy of Museum of Modern Art.

By 1887, he had relocated his business to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he stayed for a few years. His studio was described as “One of the most elegant and expensively furnished photograph galleries in the city.” Business seemed to be booming, but after a drinking binge, Goins walked out of the studio and never returned.

For about a decade, Goins’ whereabouts are unknown. The 1900 Chicago city directory lists him as a photographer again. In the 1920 federal census, Goins is recorded as a patient in Chicago’s Oak Forest Institution, a home for poor and elderly residents. The Cook County, Illinois, Death Index, shows that a 72-year-old James “Gains” living at 185 Wabash Avenue (the same address as his photo studio in 1900) died on July 26, 1921.

If anyone has seen Goins’ work from Denver, please let me know.

Theresa Leininger-Miller kindly shared her research on James Goins, including information about his work with James Presley Ball and Goins’ death date. Her published research on Goins includes: “The Serpent King of Robinson’s Circus in Cincinnati,” Bandwagon: The Journal of the Circus Historical Society 63, no. 3 (October, 2025): 20-33.

When I started researching 19th century Colorado photographers several years ago, I wondered how many Black photographers worked in the state. So far, I have encountered very few. In honor of Black history month, here is a brief glimpse into the career of John Green.

Black girl — John Green, photographer. Unidentified woman, tintype. Collection of the author.

Remarkably, John Green worked in Denver as a photographer for more than 40 years, yet hardly any of his photographs survive today. Tracking down details his life has been complicated as John Green is a fairly common name and official records provide inconsistent information.

Green was born circa 1854 in Canada to an Irish mother. Census data provides conflicting information about his father’s ancestry, varying from the West Indies (1900), South America (1910) and Australia (1930). John Green’s race is listed as mulatto in the 1910 and 1920 censuses, but as White in the 1930 census. He may have identified as White due to the rise in Klan activity in Denver at this time.

Green first appears in Denver in the 1885 city directory as a colored photographer with his photo business at the corner of Blake and 18th Street. The 1887 Sanborn map shows his studio was located in a photo car, probably an old rail car.

Sanborn map, 1887 — Sanborn Map, Denver 1887, Sheet 14

Green’s earliest work, tintype portraits of Black and White sitters, are found in a few public and private collections. This in itself is unusual. Most tintypes are unattributed. Green carefully assembled the iron plates (not tin as the name implies) into paper sleeves, stamped with his name and address on the back. When the cabinet card format became popular, Green switched to that style of card mount.

In 1889, Green photographed the Colorado House at the Capital. This photograph is not known to be extant. A few years later, Green moved to a permanent building at 1337 18th Street. In 1910 he moved again, this time to 1952 Arapahoe Street.

John Green never married and I have not been able to track down any siblings. Green died on May 24, 1930, and is buried at Denver’s Fairmount Cemetery. Unfortunately I have not found a detailed obituary for Green. Like many photographers of his time, his story has been lost to the past.