Cleary D.C. Office Celebrates Black History Month With Former White House Photographer Sharon Farmer

On Friday, February 22, the Washington, D.C. office of Cleary Gottlieb held its Black History Month celebration, “A Life Behind the Lens,” with Sharon Farmer, the first African American woman to be a White House photographer.

Sharon discussed her 40-plus-year career as a photojournalist and exhibition photographer, which included documenting the Clinton-Gore administration from its inception, becoming the first African American and first female to be Director of the White House Photography office, and serving as the photographer for Sen. John Kerry’s presidential campaign in 2004.

Sharon has photographed for the Washington Post, Smithsonian Institution, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, National Urban League, Brookings Institution, and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., among others.

Her work resides in private collections as well as the public collections of the Clinton Presidential Library, National Archives, Library of Congress, Howard University’s Moreland-Spingarn Collection, District of Columbia Government, Anacostia Museum, and National Museum of African American History & Culture.