James Wallace Black (February 10, 1825 - January 5, 1896) was an American photographer based in Boston in the mid-19th century. Black was born in Francestown, New Hampshire. He made a name for himself as a photographer in partnership with John Adams Whipple (1822 - 1891), the first American to manufacture daguerreotype chemicals. He is most famous for his 1859 portrait of abolitionist John Brown and his 1860 photograph of Walt Whitman. Also in 1860, using a balloon over Boston, his took the first aerial photographs in the United States. Also in 1860, he established a daguerreotype business with Perez Mann Bachelder (1818 - 1873), 'Bachelder and Black'. Black later became known for his magic lantern slides, including important photographs of the Great Boston Fire of 1872.
