Photographers of the American Civil Rights Movement

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Warren K. Leffler's photograph of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom at the National Mall
Warren K. Leffler's photograph of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom at the National Mall

Beginning with the murder of Emmett Till in 1955, photography and photographers played an important role in advancing the American Civil Rights Movement by documenting the public and private acts of racial discrimination against African Americans. This article focuses on these photographers and the role that they played in the movement between 1954 and 1968, particularly in the South.

Contents

[edit] Notable photographers and the roles they played

  • Warren K. Leffler was a photographer for U.S. News & World Report during the civil rights years. Although based primarily in Washington, D.C., Leffler also traveled to the South to cover many of the main events for the magazine.
  • James "Spider" Martin's photographs documented the March 1965 beating of marchers in the Selma to Montgomery march, known as “Bloody Sunday.” About the effect of photography on the Civil Rights Movement, Martin Luther King, Jr. said, "Spider, we could have marched, we could have protested forever, but if it weren't for guys like you, it would have been for nothing. The whole world saw your pictures. That's why the Voting Rights Act was passed." [1]
  • Charles Moore, in 1958 photographed an argument between Martin Luther King, Jr. and two policemen. His photographs were distributed nationally by the Associated Press, and published in Life and he began traveling throughout the South documenting the Civil Rights Movement. Moore's most famous photograph, Birmingham, depicts demonstrators being attacked by firemen wielding high-pressure hoses. U.S. Senator Jacob Javits said that Moore's pictures "helped to spur passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964."[2]
  • Gordon Parks was assigned by Life in 1963 to travel with Malcolm X and document the civil rights movement.[3] He was also involved with the movement on a personal level.

[edit] Photo books on the Civil Rights Movement

  • Kasher, Steven. The Civil Rights Movement: A Photographic History, 1954-68. New York: Abbeville, 1996.
  • Faces of Freedom Summer. University of Alabama Press, 2001.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Selma to Montgomery: A March for the Right to Vote. The Spider Martin Civil Rights Collection. Retrieved on 2006-01-04.
  2. ^ About Charles Moore. Kodak. Retrieved on 2006-12-26.
  3. ^ We Shall Overcome: Photographs from the American Civil Rights Era. LBJ Library and Museum. Retrieved on 3-1-2007.
  4. ^ Fraser, C. Gerald (19 October 1986). The Vision of Moneta Sleet in Show. The New York Times. Retrieved on 2006-12-22.
  5. ^ Moneta Sleet, photographer of excellence. African American Registry. Retrieved on 2006-12-22.

[edit] External links