A young boy watches an anti-segregation mob march in 1955 in Alabama.
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Image above depicts a young African American boy watching a group of people, some carrying American flags, marching to protest the admission of the “Little Rock Nine” to Central High School.
In honor of Dr. Martin Luther King day and the recently released Selma film by the inspiring Ava DuVernay, Nowhere presents a new series, where we travel not around the globe, but through our collective history.
The story of black rights in America is one of the brutality of mankind, great sacrifice and heroism. People risked their lives and loved ones lives to demand that the world recognize injustice inflicted upon people of color. The Voting Rights Act passed in 1965, more than a century after the Emancipation Proclamation. The black community, whose ancestors were brought to America on slave ships, has fought and continues to fight for civil rights. The recent protests in Ferguson, Oakland and New York reflect the same issues represented in the historical photos below. The reprehensible displays of power and white supremacy shadow one another decade after decade, forcing people to the streets, once again, to pursue equality in the face of police brutality. In order to get where we are going, we must remember where we came from.
a boy stands next to a water fountain in segregated California in 1938Photograph showing a group of people, several holding signs and American flags, protesting the admission of the Little Rock Nine to Central High School in 1959.An African American woman being carried to police patrol wagon during demonstration in Brooklyn, New York in 1963.CORE members swing down Fort Hamilton Parkway, Brooklyn, toward 69th St. ferry on trek to the March on Washington.At the March on Washington, a crowd of African Americans behind a storm fence with police on the other side.Crowds of African Americans and whites surround the Reflecting Pool and continue to march to the Washington Monument.Woman with a camera and the crowd at the March on Washington.Demonstrators holding signs during the March on Washington, 1963.Also the March on Washington, a crowd of African Americans behind a storm fence with police carrying a woman on the other side.African American and white Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party supporters demonstrating outside the 1964 Democratic National Convention, Atlantic City, New Jersey; some hold signs with portraits of slain civil rights workers James Earl Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner.Ku Klux Klan members supporting Barry Goldwater’s campaign for the presidential nomination at the Republican National Convention, San Francisco, California, as an African American man pushes signs back.The fatal shooting of black teen James Powell stirred rioters to race through Harlem streets carrying pictures of Lt. Gilligan, the officer responsible for the boy’s death.Incident at 133rd St. and Seventh Ave. during the riots for Powell’s death.Participants, some carrying American flags, marching in the civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama in 1965Protesters in Washington respond to the brutality of the demonstrations in Selma, Alabama.For the 45th Anniversary of the 1965 Civil Rights March from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, people gathered to walk across the Edmund Pettus Bridge to recreate the event.
All images are from the Library of Congress. Happy Birthday, MLK.
