Civil Rights Photos On Display

A civil-rights photo exhibit featuring the work of photographers who were activists has opened at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History to mark what would have been Martin Luther King Jr.’s 69th birthday.

“We Shall Overcome: Photographs From America’s Civil Rights Era” features about 75 black-and-white images depicting the era from the landmark 1954 Supreme Court decision outlawing school segregation through King’s 1968 assassination.

Curator Robert Phelan said the photos blend the storytelling qualities of historic events while conveying visual elements that bring the viewer closer to the emotional side of the moment as well. Many also depict scenes where the photographers placed themselves in dangerous positions to capture the unfolding turmoil.

“I’m used to dealing with photographs as aesthetic objects as opposed to historical documents,” Phelan said. “I was really taken by the fact that photos really can work simultaneously in both of those arenas.”

Phelan drew from the collections of 10 internationally recognized artists, including former LIFE photographers Gordon Parks and Charles Moore, and Magnum photographers Bob Adelman and Leonard Freed.

Marquette Folley, program director for the Smithsonian Institute Traveling Exhibition Service, said the exhibit tries to illustrate the importance of artist-photographers as activists in civil rights.

“We wanted to give the nation a chance to look at itself through this incredibly brilliant period of ordinary people becoming heroes, in an effort to help completely make real the concepts found in our preamble - that all men are created equal, and that there is an inalienable right for us to pursue liberty and freedom,” Folley said.

The exhibit will remain at the Smithsonian until Feb. 8, when it will embark on a six-year, nationwide tour.