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New photographs Of civil rights icon rosa parktaken during the historical Selma To montgomery The march in 1965 has been made public for the first time, offering a new perspective on his enduring legacy beyond his iconic act of civil disobedience. These photos, taken by the late civil rights photographer Matt Herron, show Parks participating in the five-day, 54-mile (87 kilometer) trek that is widely credited with building the political momentum for the U.S. Voting Rights Act of 1965.
While history often defines Parks on the basis of her refusal to give up her bus seat in Montgomery, AlabamaOn December 1, 1955 – an action that sparked the 381-day Montgomery Bus Boycott and ultimately ended racial segregation on public transportation – these newly released photos highlight his continued commitment to activism. Last Friday, descendants of the participants and organizers gathered to mark 70 years since that momentous conflict captured national attention in Alabama’s capital.
Released at the Rosa Parks Museum in Montgomery, these never-before-seen photos taken a decade after the boycott serve as a powerful reminder that her activism preceded and extended far beyond her most famous act of defiance, according to museum director Donna Biessel. “It shows who Ms. Parks was, both as a person and as an activist,” Ms. Beisel said.
Although many of Herron’s photographs from the Selma march, including Parks with other civil rights veterans, have been widely published, these particular images remained unseen. Throughout his lifetime, Heron was never featured in many of his exhibitions and books. moved in jackson, mississippiAfter the assassination of civil rights activist Medgar Evers in 1963, Herron spent two years documenting that era. His focus often focused not only on leaders, but also on “the masses of ordinary people” who drove the movement for change.
New public photos discovered from a contact sheet housed here Stanford UniversityAccording to Herron’s 88-year-old wife, Jeannine Herron. He explained that they were not selected for printing at the time, either because of obscurity or because they contained individuals whose names were not widely known. In Parks’ case, the new images show her sitting among the crowd while looking away from the camera. Now, Ms. Herron is collaborating with historians and surviving civil rights activists in Alabama to reconnect these powerful images with the communities they depict. “Getting that information from history is very important in local people’s understanding of what their families did,” he stressed.
In addition to iconic figures, Herron’s work also includes stories of ordinary individuals such as Doris WilsonA 20-year-old man from Marion, Alabama, who was the subject of constant discussion during the Selma to Montgomery marches. Decades later, Heron expressed his desire to reconnect with her, saying in a 2014 interview: “I would love to know where she is today.”
Before that wish could be fulfilled, Heron died in 2020. However, last Thursday, Ms. Wilson joined other Marion residents at Lincoln Normal School, a college founded by formerly enslaved black people after the Civil War. There, amid an auditorium filled with Heron’s black-and-white photographs, people pointed to familiar faces and backgrounds. While some of the images were known to Ms Wilson, 80, others, which featured her as the subject, she had never seen before.
One particularly poignant photo shows Ms Wilson receiving treatment in a medical tent during the march, with her feet severely blistered from walking more than 10 miles a day. In a remarkable turn of events, Dr. June Finer, the physician who treated her injuries, also happened to be new york Reuniting with Ms. Wilson for the first time in six decades. “Are you the one who rubbed my feet?” Ms. Wilson asked, as both women laughed and hugged. Dr. Feiner, 90, remembers being so focused on the safety of the marchers that she didn’t realize photographs were being taken. Reflecting on the reunion, Ms Wilson later said: “I was looking forward to seeing him.”
Ms. Wilson’s eldest son, Robert E. Wilson, 62, who was a toddler when his mother completed the march, expressed surprise. “I’m so shocked. She always said she was in the March, but I never knew she was so strong,” he commented, adding that he had never seen photos of his mother displayed at the school she once attended.
The newly unveiled collection also brought recognition to Cheryl Gardner DavisWho has vague memories of his family hosting the Weary March on the third night of the 1965 march in rural Lowndes County, Alabama. At just four years old, she remembered “crowds of strangers” setting up tents on their farm and her mother and elder sister removing mud from people using their landline phones.
Only as an adult did Ms. Davis fully understand the profound significance of her family’s sacrifice: Her mother’s teaching job was threatened, their electricity was cut off, and a neighbor threatened her with a rifle. For years, he diligently scoured the Internet and libraries, searching for photographic evidence of his hardships or at least an image of his wealth at the time.
Among the hundreds of photographs returned to Alabama in early December were photos of the campsite at Ms. Davis’s childhood home. Ms Davis, who had never seen them before, described the discovery as an important way of shedding light on often overlooked individuals from that transformative historical period. He confirmed, “It is, in a way, validation. It actually happened, and people were there.”