Rizo Šurla

Rizo Šurla was born on 12 January 1922 in Ulcinj, then part of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. His family belonged to the Afro-Montenegrin community of Ulcinj, one of many families that were the result of the enslaving of Sudanese people by Albanian troops in the 17th century.[1] African slaves had been brought in the 18th century by the captains of the Ulcinj fleet, through the influence of high-ranking Albanian pashaliks within the Ottoman Army.[2] In the 19th century, they gained their freedom and began to integrate into the local community.

His father, Saidi, was a direct descendant of the first Africans who settled in Ulcinj and his mother, Fatima was a local from Ulcinj.^[1] In his youth he was involved in boxing and worked as a waiter in Dubrovnik.^[2] He then went to Belgrade, where he learned the craft of photography.^[3] During World War II, he joined the Yugoslav Partisans.^[4] After the war, he returned to Ulcinj, where he opened the first photographic studio in the city, which for a long time was the only one. In 1976 he played in the movie Jagoš and Uglješa.^[1] He married a Montenegrin from Ulcinj named Nada Račić, with whom he had two children.^[3]

He died on 11 February 2003 in his hometown. He was one of the last black representatives in the city.^[3]

In 2026, an initiative in Ucinj was started to name a street after Šurla.^[5]