I want to sell black history t-shirts with famous black peoples pictures on them, do I need to get permission?

Question

And if so who do I get permission from?

Answer 1

You would like to sell shirts with pictures of black persons (not peoples).

Please complain to Yahoo Answers about their spell checker.

by your thumb, I see you peoples are all the same...

Answer 2

YES.

You will need permission of the owners of the pictures, which can be a little bit hard to determine.  I would suggest looking up online something like "how to get copyright permission" before printing any t-shirts, otherwise you could be in for a BIG lawsuit.

Answer 3

"usually really big icons.. or photos that are over 50 years old are free to the public. "

Not always.

Copyright length varies in some countries from 50 years AFTER DEATH to 70 years and more.  So if its a shot of Martin Luther King and the photographer is not dead then they still own the copyright (unless they sold it on etc.)

You're going to need to find the copyright owners of each image so it would be easier to buy the rights you need from a stock library like Getty Images but you will need lots of $$$ for sure.  

Answer 4

usually really big icons.. or photos that are over 50 years old are free to the public. BUT CHECK to make sure