Photojournalism In The Fight For Civil Rights, essay by Francesca Casini

Francesca Casini

Student ID: 20003212

Photojournalism In The Fight For Civil Rights

Fig.1

Steve Schapiro, Martin Luther King Jr. and Group Entering Montgomery, 1965

Photography has played a very important role throughout history. It was instrumental in providing an objective record of real events, showing the facts and spreading them around the world There has been a lot of critics regarding the importance of photography and how this tool can be used to manipulate the reality in order to in uence people, even in a negative way However, despite this it has also been acknowledged that images aid in having a greater understanding of the events that have occurred in history In many cases images have been and still are undervalued and not considered as important as they actually are, in fact they have contributed to change ideas in society over the years Photojournalism was extremely important during the 1960s to the development of one of the most signi cant campaign for the Black community in America, the civil rights movement. This movement was born between the 1950s and 1960s to ght racism and discrimination and was led by activists such as Martin Luther King, Malcolm X and Rosa Parks. It was intended to combat the segregation of African Americans under the Jim Crow laws, established in the South of the United States of America in the late 19th century,

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which prohibited black people from using services that were available to white people, for

Francesca Casini

Student ID: 20003212

instance they could not use the same public facilities as whites, attend the same schools and the interracial marriage was considered illegal Furthermore, the movement was ghting for the right to vote as the majority of African Americans could not vote due to the fact that they were not able to pass the voter literacy tests During this period photography has been a fundamental part, as Martin Luther King Jr. said: ”The world seldom believes the horror stories of history until they are documented via the mass media.

The civil rights leaders have understood and harnessed the importance of photography to raise awareness of their cause and collect funds to ght segregation laws In addition, photojournalism has had a positive impact on the movement for several motives. One of the main reasons is that through these pictures many Americans have been exposed to the reality of segregation Moreover these photographs were indispensable not only to gain support and incite the revolution, but also in order to document the crucial actions for the change and in such a way that they could be remembered during the years Another aspect that is captured by the viewer is the tenacity and resilience of the members of the civil rights movement who have inspired activists over the years and still continue to do so The images of this period appeared in newspapers and magazines in such a way to spread them easily and quickly throughout America Two of the best known magazines in which these photographs have been shown are Life and Time.

For these magazines have worked some of

Fig. 2

Gordon Parks, At Segregated Drinking Fountain, Mobile, Alabama, 1956

the most important and iconic photographers

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of the period such as, Gordon Parks

Francesca Casini

Student ID: 20003212

These photographers captured pictures that shown the history and af rmation process of the civil rights movement.

These images served to document some of the fundamental moments in American history.

The photographs at that time were also pursuing to reveal the reality of segregation to the viewer by focusing on everyday but powerful events With this sort of photographs Gordon Parks was able to educate and sensitise people, trying to show what really happened in those years and to encourage people to denounce and oppose these events Parks aimed to social justice, as the photographer said: "I saw that the camera could be a weapon against poverty, against racism, against all sorts of social wrong” One of his best known works is called Segregation in the South, published by Life in 1956.

Parks went to Alabama with the aim of documenting the racial segregations in South America. With his photographs he told the story of an African American family in Alabama and their daily struggles to overcome discrimination. Over the course of several weeks he photographed their life at home and at work These images focus primarily on "separate but equal" structures, the most visually divisive result of Jim Crow's laws², represented in gure 2.

The photographs of that period continue to inspire today thanks to the fact that they show the perseverance and courage of the people who fought for their rights through nonviolent acts and protests.

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Fig.3

Steve Schapiro, Martin Luther King Jr. and Group Entering Montgomery, 1965

Student ID: 20003212

For instance, in gures 3 and 4 Steve Schapiro was able to immortalise one of the most crucial event that have marked the history of the civil rights movement, the march from Selma to Montgomery led by Martin Luther King Jr. in 1965 in Alabama.

During this period, King and his followers took part in a series of civil rights demonstrations. The goal of the march was to ensure all the Afroamerican the registration to vote in the south This peaceful protest was violently confronted by local authorities, but due to the perseverance of the members of the movement, the congress nally passed the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which guaranteed the right to vote for all African

Fig. 4

Steve Schapiro, Martin Luther King (with Flag), Selma March, 1965

Americans³, banning the literacy test as a requirement to vote

Another photographer who was able to make the difference in America during the civil rights movement was Danny Lyon Lyon spent two years since 1962 as the rst of cial photographer for the Student NonViolent Coordination Committee (SNCC) documenting the African American community's protests and civil rights struggles. The SNCC was formed in 1960 by Ella Baker to try to give more voice to young people in the civil rights movement The photographer immortalised images of nonviolent protests and how these were treated by the police, therefore changing America's attitude towards what was happening to the black community in the South For instance in Figure 5 Lyon captured sheriff Jim Clark arresting two demonstrators who displayed placards on the steps of the federal building in Selma.⁴ The impact of the images that captured the civil rights movement helped to af rm the importance of photojournalism, which is considered nowadays one of the most powerful

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forms of photography due to the in uence it can have on society and the course of events

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Francesca Casini

Francesca Casini

Student ID: 20003212

Fig.5

Danny Lyon, Civil Rights Series, Selma, 1963

Photojournalism by telling stories of current events, succeeds in raising awareness and provoking reactions in the world.

Even today, images and videos are an integral part of the

ght against racial

discrimination, in fact the injustices and atrocities that happen in America are transmitted through social media, making the whole world aware of what is happening and encourages revolution and change _________________________________________ 1. Priscilla Frank, HuffPost US, The Importance Of Photography In The Fight For Civil Rights (2016) <https:// www.huf ngtonpost.co.uk/entry/gordon-parks-civil-rights-photography_n_56c222c9e4b0b40245c7681a? ri18n=true> [accessed 14 May 2021] 2. The Gordon Parks Foundation, SEGREGATION IN THE SOUTH, 1956 (2021) <https:// www.gordonparksfoundation.org/gordon-parks/photography-archive/segregation-in-the-south-1956? view=slider#5> [accessed 14 May 2021] 3. Jonathan Capehart, Opinion: The story of Bloody Sunday and today’s pilgrimage to Selma: ‘Voices of the Movement’ Episode 4 (2019) <https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/04/25/story-bloody-sundaytodays-pilgrimage-selma-voices-movement-episode/> [accessed 24 May 2021].

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4. © 2015 - 2020 MonoVisions Black & White Photography Magazine, Danny Lyon: Memories of the Southern Civil Rights Movement (2018) <https://monovisions.com/danny-lyon-memories-of-the-southerncivil-rights-movement/> [accessed 14 May 2021]

Francesca Casini

Student ID: 20003212

Bibliography

“Documenting SNCC and the Rural South: Danny Lyon and the Cultural Politics of Civil Rights Movement Photography.” Capturing the South: Imagining America's Most Documented Region, by Scott L. Matthews, University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, 2018, pp. 156–193. JSTOR, <www.jstor.org/stable/ 10.5149/9781469646473_matthews.8./> [Accessed 19 May 2021] Olivia B. Waxman, TIME, ‘It’s a Picture of Someone Who Knows Who He Is.’ The Story Behind TIME’s Commemorative John Lewis Cover (2020) <https://time.com/subject/civil-rights/> [accessed 21 May 2021] Ben Cosgrove, LIFE, Civil Rights: Preparation and Protest, 1960 (2021) <https://www.life.com/history/lifeand-civil-rights-anatomy-of-a-protest-virginia-1960/> [accessed 14 May 2021] BBC, The Civil Rights Movement in America (2021) <https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zcpcwmn/ revision/2#:~:text='Jim%20Crow'%20laws%20were%20passed,'whites%20only'%20public%20facilities.> [accessed 21 May 2021] National Gallery of Art, Gordon Parks Photography (2021) <https://www.nga.gov/education/teachers/lessonsactivities/uncovering-america/parks-photography.html> [accessed 21 May 2021] Diane Smith, British Journal of Photography, Gordon Parks' Choice of Weapons goes on show in Newcastle (2017) <https://www.1854.photography/2017/10/parksside/> [accessed 21 May 2021] Candice Nembhard, FRIEZE, Gordon Parks and The Politics of Colour (2020) <https://www.frieze.com/ article/gordon-parks-and-politics-colour> [accessed 14 May 2021] Google Arts&Culture, Photos From the Civil Rights Movement (2021) <https://artsandculture.google.com/ exhibit/photos-from-the-civil-rights-movement/9wISPkiyouv-Lw> [accessed 16 May 2021]

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Jessica Stewart, My Modern Met, The History of Photojournalism. How Photography Changed the Way We Receive News. (2017) <https://mymodernmet.com/photojournalism-history/> [accessed 14 May 2021]