Flip Schulke

Flip Schulke studied journalism and worked as a photographer at Macalester College until 1954. After he graduated, he became a member of the Black Star Picture Agency, and began working as a photojournalist for Life, National Geographic, and Ebony. He took historic pictures of John F. Kennedy, Fidel Castro, and most famously, Martin Luther King, Jr. 

Schulke and King had formed a strong friendship after a long conversation they had in 1958. Schulke’s 1964 photograph of Dr. King and his son, Dexter, reveals a very intimate side of the revolutionary public figure. Some 11,000 photographs by Schulke of the King family are collected by the University of Texas. Schulke continued to work as a photojournalist until his death in 2008.

Photography & Works