Bibliograph

For all the world to see, visual culture and the struggle for civil rights, Maurice Berger ; foreword by Thulani Davis

Type

Label

For all the world to see, visual culture and the struggle for civil rights, Maurice Berger ; foreword by Thulani Davis

Language

eng

Bibliography note

Includes bibliographical references and index

Illustrations

illustrations

Index

index present

Literary Form

non fiction

Main title

For all the world to see

Nature of contents

bibliographycatalogs

Oclc number

449853655

Responsibility statement

Maurice Berger ; foreword by Thulani Davis

Sub title

visual culture and the struggle for civil rights

Summary

In 1955, shortly after Emmett Till was murdered by white supremacists in Mississippi, his grieving mother distributed to the press a gruesome photograph of his mutilated corpse. Asked why she would do this, she explained that by witnessing with their own eyes the brutality of segregation and racism, Americans would be more likely to support the cause of racial justice. "Let the world see what I've seen," was her reply. The publication of the photograph inspired a generation of activists to join the civil rights movement. Despite this extraordinary episode, the story of visual culture's role in the modern civil rights movement is rarely included in its history. This is the first comprehensive examination of the ways images mattered in the struggle, and it investigates a broad range of media including photography, television, film, magazines, newspapers, and advertising. These images were ever present and diverse: the startling footage of southern white aggression and black suffering that appeared night after night on television news programs; the photographs of black achievers and martyrs in Negro periodicals; the humble snapshot, no less powerful in its ability to edify and motivate. In each case, the war against racism was waged through pictures, millions of points of light, millions of potent weapons that forever changed a nation. This book allows us to see and understand the crucial role that visual culture played in forever changing a nation

Table Of Contents

Introduction: weapons of choice -- It keeps on rollin' along: the status quo -- The new "new Negro": the culture of positive images -- Plates -- "Let the world see what I've seen": evidence and persuasion -- Guess who's coming to dinner: broadcasting race -- Epilogue: in our lives we are whole: the pictures of everyday life

Classification