NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Starting in the 1950s, his work captured history and gave a spotlight to people who felt unseen. A celebration has remembered one of Tennessee's most renowned photojournalists.
Jack Corn died earlier this month at 96. A celebration of life at Connell Memorial United Methodist Church was held Saturday. A room was decorated as a gallery of pictures spanning an incredible career.
"He wanted the photograph to reflect what that person represents," said Jack's oldest son Mike.
Mike said after some time serving in the Air Force, his father began working in Nashville in 1953. This was getting close to an era when struggles were erupting over desegregation efforts in Tennessee schools. Jack was in his early assignments at the Tennessean newspaper, then known as the Nashville Tennessean. In this early work, you can see Jack's intention with his still photographs.
"Dad was always interested in treating people with respect," Mike said, referring to his father's stills showing Black families walking to school during the desegregation efforts. "What he saw that was going on was those people weren't being treated with respect, and that moved him. He thought he could do something with photography to show the world these people are the same as we are."
As his years with the Tennessean continued, Jack was capturing history. Some of his stills on display showed 35th president of the United States John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. Some of Jack's best known work was of Nashville's growing, thriving country music scene. The stills showed icons like Minnie Pearl and George Jones.
"I love the one of Ray Charles!" one woman said, thumbing through a book of Jack's music pictures. "Isn't that awesome?"
Even while getting those images of the beloved, Jack's pictures also represented people whose stories weren't often told.
"He could talk to anybody, and they would talk back to him," Mike said.
Knowing Jack's rapport with people, the Tennessean would send him on the road. That's where he did a photo series documenting coal mining communities.
"It's always effected me to see these poor folks in Appalachia that had nothing," Mike said. "We weren't rich, but we had everything compared to them. That does have an impact. I think he tried to do something for them through his photography."
Jack left his chief photographer job at the Tennessean in 1975. There were countless awards. He was a manager at the Chicago Tribune. His photographs were used by the New York Times and Newsweek. Still, nothing could have been as rewarding as his 73 years married to wife Helen.
Also rewarding for Jack was his time teaching. Including his years at Western Kentucky University, Jack helped launch many careers.
"Jack said, 'you think I'm nice now, but there will be times you think, 'you son of a...gun!'" laughed one former student, speaking to the room. "But you won't come back the next week with the same problem, and he's absolutely right."
Over the years, cameras changed, things went from dark rooms to digital, but Jack instilled core lessons in students that applied to any kind of lens.
"It's always right to do what you can do to help somebody," another former student stated to the room.
"My father was a very honest person, and he spent his whole life trying to show everybody has to be respected," Mike said.
Do you have a positive, good news story? You can email me at forrest.sanders@newschannel5.com.
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