New photography by Pat Cagney captured with a digital camera.

Near Canton, Mississippi

Artist Maria Varela (American, b. 1940)

Artist/Maker Maria Varela (American, b. 1940)

CultureAmerican

Date1966

MediumGelatin silver print

DimensionsOverall, Image: 9 3/4 × 6 11/16 in. (24.8 × 17 cm)
Overall, Mat: 20 × 16 in. (50.8 × 40.6 cm)

Inscribedsigned in ink with Black Star stamp on print verso

Credit LinePurchase, Gift of Dr. Patricia L. Raymond and in Memory of Alice R. and Sol B. Frank

Object number97.34

Not on view

DescriptionA large group of people(men and women, black and white) marching in the rain along a dirt road.

Label TextMaria Varela American, b. 1940 Near Canton, Mississippi, 1966 Gelatin silver print (photograph) The June, 1966 March Against Fear began as a solitary 220-mile walk by activist James Meredith from Memphis, Tennessee to Jackson, Mississippi to protest racism and encourage black voter registration. He was shot by a white sniper on the second day of his trek, inspiring thousands to travel to Mississippi and complete the journey in his name, including Maria Varela, a staff photographer with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. Varela modeled her work on 1930s documentary photography by Walker Evans and Dorothea Lange, and in 1990 she won a prestigious MacArthur Foundation Prize for her long career as an activist photographer. Museum purchase, in memory of Alice R. and Sol B. Frank, and with funds provided by Patricia L. Raymond, M.D. 97.34 Exhibition HistoryThe Chrysler Museum of Art, "Appeal of this Age: Photography of the Civil Rishts Movement" 12/21/96-3/2/97. "Photographs of the Civil Rights Movement, from the Museum Collection", THE CHRYSLER MUSEUM OF ART, NORFOLK, VA, February 6 - May 31, 1998. "Civil Rights Photography," Newseum, Arlington, Virginia, January 8 - April 30, 2001. "Women and the Civil Rights Movement," Photography Galleries, Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA, June 14 - October 30, 2016. "Come Together, Right Now: The Art of Gathering," Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA, October 11, 2020 - January 3, 2021.Published ReferencesSteven Kasher, THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT A PHOTOGRAPHIC HISTORY, 1954-68, (New York: Abeville Press Publishers, 1996) 207.