In the latest essay for his Race Stories column in the NYT, Maurice Berger, CADVC, speaks on the impact of a series of photos that document the 1964 Freedom Summer. According to Dr. Berger, the photos — now being published in a book by photojournalist Matt Herron entitled, Mississippi Eyes: The Story and Photography of the Southern Documentary Project — told a different story than many images of the time that highlighted anger and shock. He says, “Concentrating on educational and artistic activities, [the series] reminds us that the civil rights movement was as much cultural as sociological.”
Read “A Cultural History of Civil Rights” and view the photographs at the New York Times Lens blog.
Berger’s Race Stories column has featured several essays centered upon race and photography including, Malcolm X as image maker, Ken Gonzales-Day, images of emancipation, the photographs of Deborah Will, the civil rights work of James Karales, and the woman in a civil rights photo, fifty seven years later.
Tags: CADVC, visual arts