Washington, D.C.— Iconic images of the civil rights movement were largely photographed in the South. In a new volume of extraordinary photographs, historian Mark Speltz focuses on compelling civil rights images from north of the Mason-Dixon line, in places such as Philadelphia, Cleveland and Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Speltz will discuss and sign his book, “North of Dixie: Civil Rights Photography Beyond the South” (J. Paul Getty Museum, 2016) on Wednesday, February 22, 2017 at noon in the Mary Pickford
Theater on the third floor of the Library of Congress’ James Madison Building, 101 Independence Ave. S.E.
This Books & Beyond event, part of the Library’s observance of African-American History Month, is co-sponsored by the Library’s Center for the Book, the Daniel A.P. Murray Association and the Prints and Photographs Division of the Library of Congress. It is free and open to the public; no tickets are required.
Many Americans are familiar with civil rights photographs from states such as Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. But images from the North, where civil rights activists also campaigned, are not well known. Speltz focuses on images of everyday activists who campaigned against segregation, police brutality and job discrimination in many northern cities.
With images by such photojournalists, artists and activists as Bob Adelman, Charles Brittin, Diana Davies, Leonard Freed, Gordon Parks and Art Shay, “North of Dixie” offers a supplemental
view of the American civil rights movement. Many of the photos Speltz includes collections of the Library of Congress.
Mark Speltz is an author and historian who writes about civil rights photography, vernacular architecture and Wisconsin culture and history. He is a senior historian at American Girl in Madison,
Wisconsin.
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