The Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA) will soon display 65 pictures taken by an Alabama native and photojournalist who was on the frontlines of covering historic moments in Alabama.
"Selma is Now: Civil Rights Photographs" is mean to offer a perspective of the Selma to Montgomery March in its entirety.
On Feb. 18, 1965, James “Spider” Martin, a 25-year-old staff photographer for The Birmingham News, was assigned to cover the shooting of Jimmie Lee Jackson in Marion, Alabama.
This event prompted the decades-long organized fight for Black civil rights in America, beginning in the South. Overnight, the photojournalist’s images became front page news. This was a seen as a turning point for America and Martin.
Martin, an Alabama native, was stirred by the events taking place the state, and he was determined to cover the entire Selma to Montgomery March.
Despite protests from his employers, he continued to document voting rights events; from Bloody Sunday to Turnaround Tuesday to mass meetings in Selma and Dr. King’s speech in front of the Alabama State Capitol.
Walking from Selma to Montgomery “backward,” Martin was always a step ahead of the demonstrators, capturing their emotions and heroic efforts through the lens of his camera.
All photographs in this exhibition are archival pigment print reproductions of Martin’s original negatives, reports the MMFA. These images were reprinted by photographer Karen Graffeo in 2023.
Martin’s negatives date to 1965 and are held in the collection of The Briscoe Center for American History, Austin, Texas.
The "Selma is Now: Civil Rights Photographs" exhibition will begin Feb. 28 and go until June 1 at the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts.
The photos will be on view in the Atrium, Blackmon and Weil Galleries. Read more here.
