Storyboard
Photography and the Civil Rights Movement
Photography was instrumental to the U.S. Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s, and critical to the formation of public memory about the movement. This storyboard is part of a collaboration between Flipboard and History Club.
1940's
The Civil Rights movement had its origins in World War II. As Black Americans supported the war effort at home and abroad, organizations such as the NAACP planned for a march on Washington, fought for equal treatment in the military, and filed legal challenges to voting restrictions and segregation on public buses. By the end of the decade, two presidential Executive Orders had been signed mandating equality in the military and federal government, and a national Civil Rights campaign had begun.
1950's
In 1953, a 10-year campaign was launched to end segregation by 1963, the 100th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation. Organizers knew public relations would be critical to the campaign's success. When NAACP member Rosa Parks was arrested in December 1955, activists used her case as an iconic rallying cry for a year-long bus boycott. The national media attention elevated the boycott's leader, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and ushered in the movement's public demonstration phase.
1960's
Starting in 1960, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) employed photographers to capture clashes and protests, distribute images of them widely, and frame events in ways beyond the mainstream press and evening newscasts. In 1964, Martin Luther King wrote of these visual media as "gigantic circling spotlights." As protests, marches and demonstrations continued through the decade, imagery circulated around the world solidifying public pressure and support for the movement.
Legacies
Photography from the Civil Rights era has proven to be critical to the formation of American public memory and to the identities of Black Americans. Civil Rights photographs are used as entryways into learning about past events, as tools for mobilizing modern-day social movements, and as crucial ingredients in the formation of contemporary Black political identity.
Further Reading
Numerous books and articles have been written about the Civil Rights movement, including several about the role of photography, imagery and iconography.
FEB. 24TH EVENT ON CLUBHOUSE
On Feb. 24th in History Club, we mark Black History Month with a conversation about photography and the Civil Rights movement. Featuring Dr. Martha Bouyer, director of the Stony the Road We Trod institute, and Steve Murray, director of the Alabama Department of Archives & History.
