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Martin A. Berger, Fixing Images: Civil Rights Photography and The RIHA Journal 0010 | 21 October 2010 Fixing Images: Civil Rights Photography and the Struggle Over Representation Martin A. Berger Peer revie and editing organized by: The Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, A Revie ers: !" #ruce Robertson, #lake $tim%son A"stra#t "Fixing Images" argues that the iconic photographs of civil rights played a key role in limiting the racial reforms of the 1960s. The famous photographs of dogs and fire hoses turned against peaceful lack marchers in !irmingham" or of tear gas and clu s #ielded against voter$rights marchers in %elma are routinely credited #ith galvani&ing the sympathy of li eral #hites in the north for the plight of lacks in the south and of smoothing the #ay for civil rights legislation. 'hat goes unsaid is ho# the photographs moved #hites to accept legislative and social reforms y perpetuating a picture of #hite control. The article illustrates ho# #hite sympathy #as contingent on images that consistently displayed lacks as the passive and hapless victims of active and violent #hites. (nd it demonstrates ho# the iconic images of civil rights ultimately limited efforts to enact ) or even imagine ) reforms that threatened to upend the racial alance of po#er. ))))) *1+ ,arly in the #inter of 196-" .r. /artin 0uther 1ing" 2r. met 3uietly #ith a group of prominent civil rights activists to discuss prospects for a major civil rights protest in !irmingham" (labama. !irmingham #as then popularly kno#n as the most racially segregated ig city in the south ) a community #here y law and custom lacks #ere confined to separate and inferior 4o s, schools, restaurants, theaters, recreational facilities and" most famously" pu lic transportation systems. 5alled "!om ingham" y many in the movement" the city had #itnessed more than t#o$do&en om ings directed against prominent lack leaders and institutions since the close of 'orld 'ar II.1 (nd yet" 1ing and the activists #ho gathered #ith him #ere cheered y #hat they 4udged as the city6s favora le conditions for a successful campaign. *7+ 1ing kne# that lacks did not #ield sufficient political or economic po#er to end segregation and promote e3ual opportunity #ithout the support of #hite allies; conse3uently" he #orked hard to organi&e peaceful protests that #ould garner sympathetic press coverage for his cause and prick the consciences of li eral #hites in the north.7 %ince most (mericans lived in segregated communities, media coverage of lack protest provided a rare opportunity for activists to make visi le to a national #hite audience the day$to$day violence and indignities experienced y lacks. 9ot only did 1 For the social and political context of !irmingham for lacks prior to the protests in the spring of 196-" see .iane /cWhorter" Carry Me Home: Birmingham, Alabama, the Climactic Battle of the Civil Rights Revolution" 9e# :ork 7001" -1$-00. 7 /artin Luther 1ing" 2r." Why We Can't Wait" 9e# :ork 196;" -0. License: This text is provided under the terms o+ the Creative Commons License CC-BY,NC-ND 3.0" RIHA Journal 0010 | 21 October 2010 activists have in !irmingham a strong supporter in Fred %huttlesworth" a prominent local clergyman and most important lack civil rights leader in the city" they had a perfect adversary in the <u lic %afety 5ommissioner" ,ugene "!ull" 5onnor" one of the most confrontational elected officials in the %outh. 5onnor6s history of violence and appetite for media attention presented 1ing #ith an opportunity to create visually arresting scenes that could crystalli&e the stakes of the struggle for #hites.- *-+ The !irmingham campaign organi&ed y 1ing and his %outhern 5hristian 0eadership 5onference =%505> egan on (pril -rd #ith a fe# do&en student$protestors initiating sit$ins at do#nto#n department store lunch counters. In the days that follo#ed" the protests gre# #ith peaceful daily marches and a oycott of local merchants y lack residents during the normally usy ,aster shopping season.; 5onnor6s police responded y arresting lack demonstrators for parading #ithout a permit" distur ing the peace and loitering" ut to the surprise of organi&ers, his officers refrained from the pu lic displays of rutality against lacks for #hich the city #as kno#n. The northern reporters assigned to !irmingham filed a smattering of stories on the protests, ut in the absence of graphically violent scenes, press coverage #as modest. The 3uiet arrest of small groups of peaceful demonstrators each day failed to arouse the interest of many #hites. *;+ ,verything changed" ho#ever" at the start of /ay" #hen local lack school children 4oined the ranks of protestors. ?n the afternoon of /ay 7nd" adult leaders took to the street #ith #ave after #ave of singing children" cheered on y hundreds of lack adults #ho flanked their route. 'hat #as du ed the "5hildren6s 5rusade" had egun. !y the end of the day" @00 young marchers #ere carted off to 4ail" many still singing and #aving their civil rights placards. !irmingham #as no# in the national ne#s. During the next day" /ay -rd" events in the city ecame of international interest. 5onnor #as unable to make further arrests ecause his 4ails #ere overflo#ing" ut remained un#illing to allo# the protestors to march on city hall or pray in the streets. Frustrated that he had no place to put additional prisoners and determined to shut do#n all forms of lack protest" 5onnor gave orders to disperse peaceful" unarmed protestors #ith Aerman shepherd police dogs and high$pressure fire hoses. The spectacle recorded y ne#spaper" magazine and television photographers and cameramen ) of #omen in their %unday dresses knocked off their feet y high$pressure #ater 4ets and #ell$dressed men peacefully standing their ground #hile mauled y dogs ) rought the movement precisely the pu licity it desired. (s a reporter for the New or! Heral" 4udged" the resulting photographs constituted the most "gripping" images of the civil rights struggle to date.@ 'hile the protests #ould continue and gro# for another #eek" the storm of pu licity - .avid 2. Aarro#" Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther $ing, %r&, and the 'outhern Christian Leadershi( Conference" 9e# :ork 19B6" 709" 77@$7B. ; Aarro#" Bearing the Cross" 7-C. @ Do ert 2. .onovan, "!irminghamEF.%. Image ( road"" New or! Heral" )ribune" /ay 17" 196-" %ection 7" 1. License: This text is provided under the terms o+ the Creative Commons License CC-BY,NC-ND 3.0" RIHA Journal 0010 | 21 October 2010 generated y the inflammatory photographs and ne#s stories detailing events of /ay -rd rought reluctant usiness and city leaders to the negotiating table" and ultimately provided 1ing #ith one of his most cele rated victories. 1 1The Spectacle o+ Racial Turbulence in Birmingham: The3 Fight a Fire that Won’t Go Out," Life, Ma3 17, 1963, 23, 24. Reproduced from' Michael S. Durham, Powerfull days. The civil rights photography of Charles Moore, New -ork 1991, 94, 8; *@+ ?n /ay 1C" 196-" #ife pu lished thirteen photographs of the !irmingham campaign taken y the southern #hite photographer 5harles /oore in an article titled" "The %pectacle of Dacial Tur ulence in !irminghamG They Fight a Fire that 'on6t Ao ?ut" =fig. 1>.6 The essay is a key document of the era" as many of the photographs reproduced in its pages 3uickly assumed status as iconic images of the civil rights struggle. /oore6s stark photographs of !irmingham 4oined those photographs of #hite mo s harassing fifteen$year$old ,li&abeth ,ckford as she integrated 0ittle Dock 5entral High %chool in (rkansas in 19@C8 sit$ins at segregated department store lunch counters in Areensboro and 2ackson" /ississippi or 9ashville" Tennessee sho#ing activists taunted and loodied y youthful #hite mo s throughout the early 1960s;C dazed and #ounded Freedom Diders milling around their abandoned urning us after segregationists fire om ed it near (niston" (labama, in 19618 and" in time" peaceful marchers absor ing the lo#s of police atons at the ,dmund <ettus !ridge in %elma, (labama, in 196@ =fig. 7a, > as some of the civil rights struggle6s most recogni&able photographs.B 6 "The %pectacle of Dacial Tur ulence in !irminghamG They Fight a Fire that 'on't Ao ?ut"" Life, /ay 1C" 196-" 76$-6. The complete issue of Life" /ay 1C" 196- =@;G70>" is available online atG httpGII ooks.google.comI ooksJ idK7kg,((((/!(2LprintsecKfrontcoverLhlKdeLsourceKg sMgeMsummaryMrLcadK0NvKonepageL 3LfKfalse =last accessed ?ct. B" 7010>. C 5f. the photograph y Fred !lack#ell of a sit$in at F.'. 'ool#orth's lunch counter" 2ackson, /ississippi" /ay 7B" 196-. The image is available online atG httpGII###.spokesmanrevie#.comIne#sIliveI ody.aspJI.Kli raryIcivilrightsIsitinsIessay =last accessed ?ct. B" 7010>. License: This text is provided under the terms o+ the Creative Commons License CC-BY,NC-ND 3.0" RIHA Journal 0010 | 21 October 2010 2a Martin Spider, Confrontation at the Pettus Bridge, Civil Rights =oting March in Selma, Alabama, March 7, 1965. Reproduced from' Steven Kasher, The Civil Rights Movement: A Photographic History, New -ork 1996, 178, 179 2b Martin Spider, Troopers charging marchers at the Pettus Bridge, Civil Rights Voting March in Selma, Alabama, March 7, 1965. Reproduced a+ter: Steven Kasher, The Civil Rights Movement: A Photographic History, New -ork 1996, 179 *6+ ? servers in the 1960s and historians in the decades since have consistently credited ne#s photographs of attack dogs and #ater hoses in !irmingham #ith #ielding a uni3ue po#er over #hite (merica. The images are lauded for generating #hite li eral sympathy in the north for the plight of lack protestors in the south" for hardening northern resolve against the excesses of the racist 2im 5ro# system and providing <resident 1ennedy and 5ongress the political cover to push long$stalled civil rights legislation.9 /any of /oore6s photographs of police dogs, fire hoses, arrests and B With nearly nineteen million paid subscri ers at a time #hen the F.%.
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