Beal grew up in Minneapolis as the son of a bookseller. He trained as an engineer and immigrated to western Manitoba in 1906 for his work. Beal was deeply involved with education and community initiatives and likely taught himself photography. Between about 1915 and 1925, he took portraits and captured views of activities in his community. Although only around fifty of his glass plate negatives survive, they provide a rare record of Prairie life by a Black photographer. His camera and some of his work is in the collection of the Swan Valley Historical Museum in Manitoba.

Image: William S. Beal, Self-portrait (Big Woody district, Swan River, Manitoba), c.1918, black and white glass plate negative, Collection of Robert Barrow.

For further reading, see:

Barrow, Robert, and Leigh Hambly. Billy: The Life and Photography of William S.A. Beal. Winnipeg: Vig Corps Press, 1988.

Cassidy, Christian. “‘Every Inch a Gentleman’: Early Black Settler Billy Beal Was a Ground Breaker in Many Ways.” Winnipeg Free Press, February 18, 2018.

Fearon, Alyssa. “Why you need to know about Billy Beal, the great unsung Black photographer of early 1900s Manitoba.” CBC, August 20, 2020. www.cbc.ca/arts/why-you-need-to-know-about-billy-beal-the-great-unsung-black-photographer-of-early-1900s-manitoba-1.5692446

Vernon, Karina. “William Sylvester Alpheus Beal (1874–1968),” “Big Woody,” and “3 Glass-Plate Negative.” In The Black Prairie Archives: An Anthology, edited by Karina Vernon, 62–69. Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2019.