Sam Lawson Mingo of the  Mississippi Choctaw

Samuel Lawson Mingo is a documentary photographer and a member of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians. He grew up on the reservation in the Bogue Chitto community but now resides in the Pearl River community. Samuel works with digital still image photography, digital video photography, and digital audio capture to discuss indigenous culture in the contemporary and historic by documenting lived experiences. Samuel has been publishing photographs since 2015 when he worked as a photojournalist for the University of Southern Mississippi’s student newspaper. Samuel has since been published in multiple local newspapers. Utilizing his background in fine art, photojournalism, and social research, he covered social justice protests in 2016, which earned him an award from the Louisiana-Mississippi Associated Press Media Editors.