On the Selma to Montgomery March

Artist James Karales (American, 1930 - 2002)

CultureAmerican

DateMarch 21-25, 1965

MediumGelatin silver print

DimensionsOverall, Image: 13 1/4 × 14 1/16 in. (33.7 × 35.7 cm)
Overall: 16 5/8 × 16 7/8 in. (42.2 × 42.9 cm)
Overall, Mat: 22 1/16 × 26 in. (56 × 66 cm)

Credit LinePurchase, in memory of Alice R. and Sol B. Frank, and the Art Purchase Fund

Object number97.25

Not on view

DescriptionThis is a gelatin silver print of a young man draped in the American Flag while on the Selma to Montgomery March. The yougn man is identified as Lewis Marshall, aged 15 at the time this photograph was taken.

Label TextJames Karales American (1930-2002) On the Selma to Montgomery March, March 1965 Gelatin-silver print Museum purchase, in memory of Alice R. and Sol B. Frank, and the Art Purchase Fund 97.25 On March 21, the third Selma March got underway. The first attempt to march from Selma to Montgomery to demonstrate for voters' rights had ended in violence, and the second was halted by a temporary restraining order issued by a Federal judge. On the third attempt four thousand marchers left Selma; 300 marched the entire 54 miles, 25,000 marchers entered Montgomery five days after the march began. The march drew tens of thousands of supporters from around the nation. Film and photographs of the brutal attacks and of the later triumphal march flashed around the world, gathering support for the Movement and for the Voting Rights Act that was then wending its way through Congress. James Karales' poignant images of the Selma to Montgomery March were commissioned for a Look story called "Turning Point for the Church," which highlighted a newly recognized moral imperative on the part of the white, Northern clergy. Edited By: CW Edited Date: 2007 Approved By: ERL Approval Date: 2007Exhibition History"Appeal of this Age: Photography of the Civil Rights Movement," The Chrysler Museum of Art, 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. "History of Photography," Alice R. and Sol B. Frank Photography Galleries, Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Va, Fall, 2001. "Silver Images: The Photography Collection at 25," Alice R. and Sol B. Frank Photo Galleries, Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Va., November 5, 2003 - August 2004. "The World of Photography," Alice R. and Sol B. Frank Photo Galleries, Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA, June 20, 2007 - May 25, 2008 Published ReferencesSteven Kasher, THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT A PHOTOGRAPHIC HISTORY, 1954-68, (New York: Abeville Press Publishers, 1996), p. 163. Margarett Loke, "James Karales, Photographer of Social Upheaval, Dies at 71," _The New York Times_ (April 5, 2002), C11.