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Gallery Walk: Civil Rights and Black Lives Matter Movements

Author: Mark Speltz

Police Arresting Martin Luther King in 1958.

Police officers O.M. Strickland and J.V. Johnson apply force in arresting the Reverend Martin Luther King for loitering near a courtroom where one of his integration lieutenants was on the stand. King charged he was beaten and choked by the arresting officers. Police denied the charges. 1958.
Bettmann—Getty Images

Iconic image by Bill Hudson of a Birmingham protestor in Birmingham, 1963.

A 17-year-old civil rights demonstrator, defying an anti-parade ordinance of Birmingham, Ala., is attacked by a police dog on May 3, 1963.
Bill Hudson—AP Photo

Firefighters turn their hoses full force on civil rights demonstrators July 15, 1963 in Birmingham, Alabama.

Firefighters turn their hoses full force on civil rights demonstrators July 15, 1963 in Birmingham, Alabama.
Bill Hudson—AP Photo

Girls Fleeing from Police During Riot in Brooklyn, 1964.

Two terrified African American girls flee police officers during a race riot in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn. 1964.
Bettmann—Getty Images

John Lewis beaten by state troopers on Bloody Sunday in Selma, Ala, 1965.

State troopers swing billy clubs to break up a civil rights voting march in Selma, Alabama., March 7, 1965. John Lewis, chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (in the foreground) is being beaten by a state trooper.
AP Photo

Mississippi Highway patrolmen arrests Anthony Quin, 5, son of Mrs. Aylene Quin during voting rights protest in Jackson Mississippi, 1965.

Mississippi Highway patrolmen arrests Anthony Quin, 5, son of Mrs. Aylene Quin during voting rights protest. When Quinn refused to give up small American flag, patrolman went berserk, wrenched it out of his hands. June 17, 1965, Jackson, Mississippi.
 © 1976 Matt Herron/Take Stock—The Image Works

National Guard on Springfield Avenue in Newark, N.J. clearing the street on July 14, 1967, after rioting took place.

Members of the National Guard on Springfield Avenue in Newark, N.J. clearing the street on July 14, 1967, after rioting took place. Their rifles had unsheathed bayonets fixed to the barrels.
Don Hogan Charles/The New York Times Photo Archives—Redux

A Michigan State policeman searches a youth on Detroit's 12th Street, July 24, 1967, where looting was still in progress.

A Michigan State policeman searches a youth on Detroit’s 12th Street, July 24, 1967, where looting was still in progress.
AP Photo

Soldiers at Civil Rights Protest in Memphis, 1968.

U.S. National Guard troops block off Beale Street as Civil Rights marchers wearing placards reading, “I AM A MAN” pass by on March 29, 1968. It was the third consecutive march held by the group in as many days. Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., who had left town after the first march, would soon return and be assassinated.
Bettmann—Getty Images

Rodney King beating by LA cops in 1991.

Video image of LA cops beating black motorist Rodney King as he lies on ground; taken by camcorder enthusiast George Holliday fr. window overlooking street. 1991.
Charles Steiner/Image Works—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images

Henry Louis Gates Jr arrest at his home in Massachusets in 2009.

Henry Louis Gates Jr. center, the director of Harvard University’s W.E.B. DuBois Institute for African and African American Research, is arrested at his home in Cambridge, Mass. on July 16, 2009.
B. Carter—AP Photo

Eric Garner died while being arrested by police in Staten Island. July 17, 2014.

A 400 pound asthmatic Eric Garner died while being arrested by police in Staten Island. July 17, 2014.
NY Daily News via Getty Images

Heavily armed and equipped police confront, and eventually detain, a man during protests two days after the fatal shooting of Michael Brown, in Ferguson.

Heavily armed and equipped police confront, and eventually detain, a man during protests two days after the fatal shooting of Michael Brown by a police officer, in Ferguson, Mo., Aug. 11, 2014.
Whitney Curtis/The New York Times—Redux

A demonstrator protesting the shooting death of Alton Sterling is detained by law enforcement near the headquarters of the Baton Rouge Police Department in Baton Rouge, Louisiana

A demonstrator protesting the shooting death of Alton Sterling is detained by law enforcement near the headquarters of the Baton Rouge Police Department in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, U.S. July 9, 2016.
Jonathan Bachman—Reuters

“How Photographs Define the Civil Rights and Black Lives Matter Movements,” by Mark Speltz Time (Sep 22, 2016)

As race relations flare up and crises unfold in America’s streets, the rate at which we create and consume digital content skyrockets. The most powerful and compelling snapshots, news photographs and video footage that rise out of an onslaught of imagery stick in our brains, forming a visual memory or imprint refreshed or strengthened with each successive encounter. Real-time news coverage increasingly relies on images that not only saturate the news—they can influence how events are depicted and remembered for decades to come.

An achingly familiar news cycle began each time America witnessed a tragic police killing, some local unrest or an explosive confrontation throughout this past summer. Local tragedies from Chicago and Baton Rouge to St. Paul, Milwaukee and beyond quickly became national stories. Now, the killings of Terence Crutcher in Tulsa and Keith Lamont Scott in Charlotte are trending as disturbing footage and images spread through news and social media outlets.

The shootings and explosive protests for justice that follow repeatedly amplify issues of race, profiling, and police violence against minorities. Black Lives Matter activists denounce the killings, demand accountability and that America acknowledge and reckon with its racist past. Armed with bullhorns, signs, and cell phones, protesters nationwide stage demonstrations, block city streets and highways, and encounter armored police forces bearing military-grade weaponry. Each time a name becomes a hashtag, dramatic pictures by photojournalists, artists, and activists themselves document the historical moment for all the world to see—and share.

Yet, this is more than a moment. The push to make black lives matter equally began coalescing into a loosely coordinated movement following the 2012 killing of Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman’s acquittal the following summer. Propelled forward with each successive police shooting, campus protest, and campaign against a local injustice, the movement and activists’ diverse goals, demands, and policy platforms represent the “fierce urgency of now” and echo a longer black freedom struggle.

Pictures from Black Lives Matter protests resemble Civil Rights era photography and serve many of the same crucial roles. Photographs documenting meetings, marches and demonstrations convey immediacy and inspire activism. While some images tell stories and illuminate the joys and struggles of everyday people working for change, others reveal how local people and their communities are suffering.

May 11, 2016 cover of TIME magazine with photo by Devon Allen.

May 11, 2016 cover of TIME magazine with photo by Devin Allen.

Devin Allen—TIME Magazine

The very best pictures, taken by the likes of Sheila Pree Bright, Devin Allenand Patience Zalanga, command our attention with their sensitive treatment and authentic, often grassroots perspective. Others capture feelings of mistrust, hopelessness and determination during the tense confrontations and make lasting impressions on how clashes are portrayed. Take for example the gripping images of hyper-militarized police force emerging from Ferguson after the killing of Michael Brown or the viral arrest photo of Ieshia Evans, the lone woman in a dress in Baton Rouge. These visual representations represent only a millisecond of a long, contested struggle, but shape how we see and remember these events for years to come.

The astounding amount of imagery documenting today’s marches and racial struggles is enabled, not surprisingly, by technology. The near ubiquity of cell phones ensures that no poignant moment, clever sign, or altercation goes unrecorded. This also speaks to the many vital roles photos continue to play—they can document, preserve, inspire, attest and provide evidence. Equally powerful, video recordings provide real-time coverage of groups staging protests and winding through city streets in order to be heard. Though shaky and raw, live footage provides a ground-level perspective unedited or framed by commercial networks.

But this immense digital output can only make an impact and be seen by others if it is shared through expansive social networks and with ever-changing technologies and apps. Rather than solely appearing in print or on television, the overwhelming majority of images and videos are viewed on screens and devices. The visual impact of a traumatic image is not only sensed and internalized by the viewer—it is instantaneously shared, passed along, and broadcast online.

The gripping pictures documenting and coming out of the Black Lives Matter movement have undoubtedly changed the course of our recent history, just as stirring Civil Rights era photographs did more than five decades earlier.

Most Americans today learn about the Civil Rights Movement through photographs. Images documenting speeches by charismatic leaders, dramatic clashes between nonviolent marchers and police, and massive demonstrations form an important archive. Incredibly powerful news pictures from well-known settings, such as Little Rock, Birmingham and Selma, were seared into our nation’s historical memory and imagination. Now, the most iconic images repeatedly appear in history textbooks alongside imagery of George Washington crossing the Delaware River and Marines raising a flag at Iwo Jima. Photographs from modern America’s defining social justice struggle are critical touchstones in the visual narrative of our nation’s past.

Photography played an important role in advancing the struggle for justice and equality. Compelling pictures on front pages of newspapers and in glossy news magazines raised awareness of the burgeoning movement, while others shocked the nation. Bill Hudson’s and Charles Moore’s news photographs from Birmingham in 1963 captured law enforcement officers’ brutal treatment of largely nonviolent protesters with police dogs and high-pressure fire hoses. Civil Rights organizers understood eye-grabbing pictures could build sympathy for the cause, attract financial support, and prod politicians to offer protection and eventually, enact landmark legislation. Photographic coverage conveyed not only the intensity of the struggle but also made the massive resistance to change visible.

Iconic image by Bill Hudson of a Birmingham protestor in Birmingham, 1963.

A 17-year-old civil rights demonstrator, defying an anti-parade ordinance of Birmingham, Ala., is attacked by a police dog on May 3, 1963.

Bill Hudson—AP Photo

Few today fully appreciate how Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and scores of activists strategized and sought that type of photographic coverage. Yet, no matter how important these photographs were and powerful they remain, solely focusing on images of brutality and violence provides an incomplete picture of the era. Because of this, Americans are less familiar with critical moments of strength, agency and determination.

Photojournalists and activist photographers also documented little-known campaigns from coast to coast with pictures that told even more stories. Organizations shared pictures with sympathetic news publications and filled newsletters, leaflets and fundraising materials with imagery that dramatized the issues and relayed a sense of urgency. Photos of victims battered by Detroit police ran in black-owned newspapers and newsmagazines alongside activists resisting arrest at protests and troubling depictions of poverty and discrimination. Tens of thousands of pictures bore witness to a broad movement—conceived of and advanced by strong, local leaders, including many black women and youth—that actively challenged racism and many forms of inequality that America has yet to overcome.

In 1963, Dr. King and other organizers knew they struck visual gold when snarling dogs and fire hoses were turned against protesters in Birmingham. Film crews and photographers swarmed the scene, transmitting the vicious response to direct action protests far and wide. Groups today, however, no longer need to hope for and primarily rely on this type of news coverage. By coupling time-worn strategies and tactics with new technologies, today’s activists are able to frame the struggle, shape their own visual representations, and amplify their grievances and hopes for a new America more freely and farther than the most media-savvy or well-funded civil rights organization could dream of in the 1960s.

Despite the distance of the decades, the moving imagery of the emerging Black Lives Matter movement builds upon a visual narrative of protest and struggle that remains all too relevant in the present.

Mark Speltz is a historian and the author of North of Dixie: Civil Rights Photography Beyond the South published by J. Paul Getty Museum. Follow him on Twitter @mespeltz.

Liz Ronk edited this photo essay.

DMU Timestamp: November 09, 2018 23:10





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