Celebrating the life and work of Congressman John Lewis: A visual record of the civil rights movement at Marquand Library

In honor of congressman and civil rights leader John Lewis (1940-2020), Marquand Library of Art and Archaeology is honored to highlight a collection of books that visually document the 1960s civil rights movement. Among other items, this list features art and photography books that include events like the 1963 March on Washington, which Lewis helped to organize, and the 1965 march for voters’ rights from Selma to Montgomery, during which (on Mar. 7 - Bloody Sunday) Lewis and his fellow demonstrators were beaten by Alabama police.

Cover of Selma 1965

Pictures Tell the Story: Ernest C. Withers Reflections in History
Ernest C. Withers

Selma 1965: The Photographs of Spider Martin
Don Carleton (preface) and Douglas Brinkley (introduction)

Road to Freedom: Photographs of the Civil Rights Movement, 1956-1968
Julian Cox with afterword by John Lewis

Elizabeth Catlett: In the Image of the People
Melanie Anne Herzog

Cover of "The Wall of Respect"

This Light of Ours: Activist Photographers of the Civil Rights Movement
Leslie G. Kelen, ed. with essays by Julian Bond, Clayborne Carson, and Matt Herron; text by Charles E. Cobb, Jr.

Powerful Days: The Civil Rights Photography of Charles Moore
Michael S. Durham with introduction by Andrew Young

Seeing Through Race: A Reinterpretation of Civil Rights Photography
Martin A. Berger

The Wall of Respect: Public Art and Black Liberation in 1960s Chicago
Abdul Alkalimat, Romi Crawford, and Rebecca Zorach, eds.

Cover of #1960Now

For All the World to See: Visual Culture and the Struggle for Civil Rights
Maurice Berger

Tradition and Conflict: Images of a Turbulent Decade, 1963-1973
Studio Museum in Harlem (curated by Mary Schmidt Campbell)

Witness: Art and Civil Rights in the Sixties
Teresa A. Carbone and Kellie Jones

#1960Now: Photographs of Civil Rights Activists and Black Lives Matter Protests
Sheila Pree Bright

Written by Nicole Fabricand-Person, Japanese Art Specialist

Media contact: Barbara Valenza, Director of Library Communications