JOEL DANIEL PHILLIPS

Don Thompson has over 50 years of photographic experience which began as a writer and photographer in the US Army. He is a certified Commercial Photographer. He is a 2022 graduate of Phillips Theological Seminary with a Master of Arts in social justice and a 1987 graduate of Northeastern State University. Don is a photojournalist, author, historian, painter, presenter, and community activist. He was selected Tulsa People Legends in the March 2023 issue and awarded the National Association of Black Journalist 2022 Photojournalism Award in December 2022.

Don has exhibited extensively in the state, and region. His works are part of the Oklahoma State University Tulsa campus which houses his permanent photographic exhibit, entitled Black Settlers, In Search of the Promised Land, of which he collaborated with the late Mrs. Eddie Faye Gates in 1992-95. His works are also part of the permanent collection of the Philbrook Museum of Art-Tulsa, Ok, and the Smithsonian National Museum of African American Culture and History, in Washington, D.C.

Don participated in the exhibit, All Black Towns of Oklahoma sponsored by the Zarrow Center, January 6, 2023, to February 25, 2023, and the Art as Activism in North Tulsa Oral History Project-Gilcrease Museum, September 2022. His 2021 exhibits include Views of Greenwood (Mar to Sept 2021) Philbrook Museum; Unvarnished Truth (May 7-Jun 1, 2021) Liggett’s Studios; Reaching Back & Going Forward (May 2021) Tulsa Artist Coalition, Bloomberg Apps, and Google Arts and Culture. His inclusions in documentaries and publications are Dreamland by Springhill/Lebron James, Release Me, The Spirits of Greenwood Speak Anthology, Elevating the Black Wall Street Mindset: A 2020 Vision of Black Economic Empowerment-Dean Lynes-video, National Geographic Live/Disney, Dear Black Future Tulsa Artist Fellowship, Pathway to Hope Mural, and National Trust for Historic Preservation-Rock of Ages-Vernon AME Fall 2021. Don was guest speaker in October 2021 at the 17/18th Annual Gordon Parks Festival in Ft. Scott, Kansas.

Don’s work, Rainbows Across the Sky of Tulsa, was exhibited at the Tulsa International Airport, January to December 31, 2019. His one-man show was hosted April 2018 entitled, Here & Now: Coming Back to Greenwood, at the Greenwood Archives, Art & Curio in Tulsa. He co-curated the 2017 Living Arts Exhibit entitled, ‘Examining Change: A Photographic Look at North Tulsa’ in which artists and community leaders photographed and discussed the changing face of the North Tulsa community over a twenty-five-year period.

Don received the 2005 Eminent Educators Award- Phi Delta Kappa, 2001 OVAC Award of Excellence in Photographic Art, 1993 Mid-America Arts Alliance Regional VA Fellowship in partnership with NEA, among others. He has been featured in periodicals to include Art Focus Oklahoma- Spring 2021, Tulsa World- May 2021, Life’s Vintage News Magazine-Cover Story-Aug 2017, Tulsa People June-2017, The Oklahoma Eagle, and others. He is the owner of Don Thompson Images, member of the John Hope Franklin Center, Tulsa Historic Society, and others. He is the author of, And My Spirit Said, Yes! The African American Experience: Visions of the Past and Present (2013) and Hush Somebody’s Callin’ My Name (2009). Don is married to Barbara Eikner Thompson.