In February, I visited an exhibition of civil rights photographs, This Light of Ours: Activist Photographers of the Civil Rights Movement, at the Bullock Museum of Texas History in Austin. In the weeks that followed, the pandemic would disrupt every aspect of my life, and the exhibition lost its urgency for me despite being deeply moving. One part in particular struck me as profoundly unsettling. Stepping between walls midway through the show, I was confronted by a cage that civil rights protestors were placed into during the 1960s. I stood looking at that cage and the photographs around it for 30 minutes, maybe longer. Surrounded by images of old men, young women, and people killed or injured during a time a national strife, the cage felt more than ominous. It felt immediately threatening and heavy. There was no way to see the images without walking around the cage and seeing it from all angles, and the figures in the photographs, framed by the bars of the cage, suddenly appeared powerless and desperate.
The protests over the past months make this exhibition more relevant than I would have ever imagined. The nine photographers in the show were participants in the civil rights movement as well as observers. The show runs through August, and, with the shutdown and the protests, I hope it is extended. It could not be more timely, and it could not be more important. If you are within driving distance, I might be willing to say that it’s an obligation for you to see it. At times like these, our history matters more than ever.
A "mock" vote is held to demonstrate that Blacks desire to vote. The woman on the left, Ida Mae Holland, was a prostitute before joining the movement. She later attended college, earned a PhD, and became a playwright. Greenwood, Mississippi. © 1963 Matt Herron, Courtesy CDEA.
After the Ku Klux Klan burned this cross in front of a Mississippi Delta Freedom House, a civil rights worker transformed it with a painted message. Indianola, Mississippi. © 1964 Tamio Wakayama, Courtesy CDEA.
White volunteers did not escape assault. Arthur Lelyveld, a rabbi from Cleveland, Ohio, receives first aid after being beaten with a tire iron. Hattiesburg, Mississippi. © 1964 Herbert Randall, Courtesy CDEA.
In 1965, a small, defiant group of sharecroppers began demanding a fair wage and went on strike, giving birth to the Mississippi Freedom Labor Union. Mississippi Delta. © 1965 Bob Fletcher, Courtesy CDEA.
A picketer is arrested behind Loveman's Department Store. Civil rights leaders believed that if they could break segregation in Birmingham, it would collapse throughout the South. Birmingham, Alabama. © 1963 Bob Adelman, Courtesy CDEA.
MFDP delegates demonstrate as President Lyndon Johnson is being nominated. Victoria Gray from Hattiesburg, the woman at center, is a prominent MFDP leader. Atlantic City, New Jersey. © 1964 George Ballis, Courtesy CDEA.
Though too young to vote, Bobby Simmons proclaims his convictions on his forehead. After he walked all the way to Montgomery, Bobby said, "You be rejoicing once you accomplish your goal and get there." Selma—Montgomery, Alabama. © 1965 Matt Herron, Courtesy CDEA.
On-the-spot meetings were common. (Left to right) Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, Bernard Lee, Rev. Martin Luther King, and Hosea Williams confer during a rally in Kelly Ingram Park, Birmingham, Alabama. © 1965 Bob Fitch, Courtesy CDEA.
This Light of Ours is on view at the Bullock Museum of Texas History through August 31, 2020.