Road to Freedom

Organized by the High Museum of Art in collaboration with the National Museum of African American History and Culture, Smithsonian Institution

Road to Freedom is one of the most significant museum exhibitions devoted to photographs of the civil rights movement. It will feature a selection of more than one hundred twenty five prints, acquired from commercial galleries, and artists and their estates across the nation. These indelible images moved the nation, raising awareness of injustice. Extensive captions will accompany the photographs, providing information about the people and events portrayed, and explaining how the photographs were made and used. A catalogue reproducing all the works in the show will offer essays by leading historians and scholars. The history of the movement cannot be understood without contemplating the photographs that presented it to an enormous audience, helping to transform public opinion.

These civil rights photographs constitute the deepest and broadest visual documentation of any social struggle in American history. Like freedom songs, photographs were integral to the movement, encapsulating feelings and strategies, furthering solidarity, and spreading knowledge. They capture the sincerity, hope, and raw courage of the men and women who challenged the status quo armed only with the philosophy of nonviolence, the strength of their convictions and the faith that good would prevail over evil. No other American pictures present so purely a collective passion for justice.

Arresting Demonstrators, Birmingham, Alabama

Bruce Davidson, American, born 1933, Gelatin silver print, 1964, High Museum of Art, copyright Bruce Davidson

Because of the moral energy they radiate, these are among the most important and beautiful photographs of our nation. Their persuasive power was recognized even at the time they were made. Published on front pages here and abroad, they captured the imbalance of power and repression in extraordinarily vivid images. Scenes unthinkable to Americans were made known to the world. Public sympathy and financial support, as well as political backing, flowed to movement organizers.

Most civil rights photographs were taken by professional photojournalists sympathetic to the cause, and by activists motivated to record their struggles. Those who took the photographs shared the goal of recording newsworthy events with an objective and informing eye. With this exhibition, several generations will have an opportunity to experience the visual and emotional impact of the pictures that changed America.

Road to Freedom: Photographs of the Civil Rights Movement, 1956-1968 is open through March 9, 2009 at the S. Dillon Ripley Center on the National Mall.