The eyes grab you first. They stare at you from the black-and-white photo, soft and, it seems, inquisitive.

Zoom out, and you notice the man’s appearance. Well-dressed in a suit jacket, a white dress shirt and a tie that is knotted perfectly. His hair is short.

His name is Benton James and, in 1924, he became the first African American graduate of Arizona State University, then known as Tempe Normal School.

Research has provided some biographical information about James.

He was one of three Black students who graduated from Phoenix Union High School in 1921.

In 1925 he became principal of the Paul Laurence Dunbar Colored School in Tucson.

He was married, to Josephine “Sophie” Spann, lived in California for a while, working as a teacher and then for the South Pacific Railroad, and died on Jan. 11, 1988, laid to rest in Inglewood Park Cemetery in Los Angeles.

But who James was — what he believed in, how he lived his life, who he was to family members and friends — remains a mystery.

A mystery that Jessica Salow, the assistant archivist of Black Collections at ASU, and Shannon Walker, who oversees ASU’s archives, would love to unravel in the 100th anniversary of James’ graduation.

They’re hoping someone connected to James will read this article, contact them and tell them all about the man in the photo.

Not just because he was the first African American graduate, although that’s important.

Salow and Walker believe a university needs to connect with and understand its past and, sometimes, archives and yearbook photos only tell a tiny fraction of the story.

“This is kind of a call to action for folks to really dig into what this history means and why it’s important for them to share, either with their family or their community or whoever,” Salow said. “Benton James is really a significant story, and we don’t know much about him, which is a travesty.”