SNCC Photographs, circa 1963-1965

Extent:

3.5 Linear Feet (4 boxes)

Scope and content:

The 53 black-and-white photographs in this series derive from the work of photographers working with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). Most were taken in Mississippi from 1963-1965, with some from Alabama, Georgia, Arkansas, and other unknown locations. Photographs were taken at voting rights rallies and marches, voter rights education sessions, Mississippi Freedom gatherings, Southern Freedom Schools, and the National Democratic Convention of 1964 in Atlantic City, New Jersey. There are many images from the Mississippi "Freedom Summer," 1963. Subjects include African Americans demonstrating, registering to vote, at work in agricultural fields, and in towns, at schools, or at their homes with families and children. Other subjects include African American activists, among which are Martin Luther King, Jr.; Bob Moses, Council of Federated Organizations; and Fannie Lou Hamer, co-founder of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP). Other subjects include SNCC staff and photographers, elected officials, political candidates, white bystanders, and police.

The prints are almost all untitled, undated, and unattributed. Photographers in this series whose work has been identified through initials, the photographers' list in this collection, and other sources, are: Joffré Carter, Bob Fletcher, Fred DeVan, and Tamio Wakayama. Images identified as Danny Lyon's appear on two posters in the Voting Rights Materials series of this collection: "NOW" and "Is he protecting you?", but there are undoubtedly other photographs in this Photographs series which are his.

Almost all 5x7 proof prints are marked with job, roll, and frame numbers. The small 2/12 x 3 1/2 inch prints are not true photographs but photostatic halftone paper prints mounted on stiff cardstock, and are unmarked. Some of the large prints are mounted on acidic cardstock and sometimes have bumped and broken edges; please handle with care.

Photographers whose images were used in the SNCC "NOW" exhibit are listed on a SNCC exhibit planning document in the papers series of this collection, along with the state and town location of each image and a sequential number. There are 78 entries in all and 10 photographers on this list: Joffré Clarke; Bob Fletcher; Doug Harris; George Love; Danny Lyon; Francis Mitchell; Willie Squire; Fred De Van; Cliff Vaughs; and Tom (later Tamio) Wakayama. Although it can be assumed that many (but perhaps not all) of them created the images in this collection, there may be other photographers whose names do not appear on that list but whose images are present.

There is a handful of prints (5x7 and 8x10 inches) in the Exhibit-Related Materials series which are related to Betty Brown's paper records.

Physical facet:

100 small prints, mounted (2 1/2 x 3 1/2); 124 prints (5x7); 53 prints (11x14 to 16x20).

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