First Saturday: I Am A Man: Photographs in the American South, 1960-1970

The 1960-1970 decade unleashed hope for the future and profound change as the civil rights movement sought to desegregate public spaces and secure the right to vote for African Americans. Inspired by the voice of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., thousands of courageous people risked their lives to end Jim Crow segregation. Photographs by amateurs, local photojournalists, and internationally known photographers captured the often-dangerous confrontations. The exhibit title adopts the slogan of the sanitation workers’ strike that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was to lead the day after he was assassinated on April 4th, 1968.

These images bear witness to the violence and brutality that protesters faced with the quiet determination of elders and the angry commitment of the young. Even though the photographs were taken fifty years ago, they remain relevant today and remind us of the brave sacrifices that were made to further civil rights for African Americans.

This exhibit is a Program of Exhibits USA, a national division of the Mid-America Arts Alliance and The National Endowment for the Arts. The museum will be open for people to view this display of photographs as it opens to the public.