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This image was taken by a photojournalist working under the employ of the Associated Press, a US news agency founded in 1846 and still in operation today. These photographers endeavored to take in-focus, direct, and straightforward illustrations that would clearly communicate important events with the American public. Documentary photography of social protest movements (and particularly police violence) played a major role in shaping public opinion in these years. 

 


DimensionsOverall: 7 x 8 1/2 in. (17.8 x 21.6 cm)
Accession Number 2025.240
Classificationsphotograph
ProvenanceJeff Perry; Des Moines Art Center [gift from the previous, 2025]
Massed Marchers at Memorial: From a helicopter, this is the way the March on Washington demonstrators looked today during ceremonies at the Lincoln Memorial. Thousands jammed the area after a sign-carrying parade from the Washington Monument grounds, August 28, 1963
Image Not Available for Massed Marchers at Memorial: From a helicopter, this is the way the March on Washington demonstrators looked today during ceremonies at the Lincoln Memorial. Thousands jammed the area after a sign-carrying parade from the Washington Monument grounds, August 28, 1963
Image Not Available for Washington Demonstrators Arrested: police made their first arrests of participants in the Poor People's Campaign today for demonstrating outside the Longworth House Office Building on Capitol Hill. Fifteen of approximately 200 marchers were charged with refusing to heed police orders to stop singing and praying outside the building. Here, police frisk several of the marchers before putting them in the paddy wagon. Those arrested were charged with the use of "loud, threatening or abusive language on capitol grounds.", May 23, 1968
Washington Demonstrators Arrested: police made their first arrests of participants in the Poor People's Campaign today for demonstrating outside the Longworth House Office Building on Capitol Hill. Fifteen of approximately 200 marchers were charged with refusing to heed police orders to stop singing and praying outside the building. Here, police frisk several of the marchers before putting them in the paddy wagon. Those arrested were charged with the use of "loud, threatening or abusive language on capitol grounds.", May 23, 1968
Unknown
1968
Image Not Available for Under Police Surveillance: Members of the American Nazi Party carry out their own demonstration today under close police surveillance. The swastika-wearing marchers showed up at the White House about the time Negro demonstrators were scheduled to arrive. Police hustled off the Nazis to the next block up Pennsylvania Avenue where they were permitted to march in a tight circle, June 14, 1963
Under Police Surveillance: Members of the American Nazi Party carry out their own demonstration today under close police surveillance. The swastika-wearing marchers showed up at the White House about the time Negro demonstrators were scheduled to arrive. Police hustled off the Nazis to the next block up Pennsylvania Avenue where they were permitted to march in a tight circle, June 14, 1963
Unknown Associated Press photographer
1963
Image Not Available for Mrs. Coretta Scott King narrates Aaron Copland's "Lincoln Portrait" during a Memorial Day concert, by the Washington National Symphony, dedicated to her late husband, Martin Luther King Jr. on May 31. The concert was originally scheduled to be held at the Lincoln Memorial May 30, where the Poor People's Campaign is encamped. Seated at left is Howard Mitchell, music director, Washington DC, June 1, 1968
Mrs. Coretta Scott King narrates Aaron Copland's "Lincoln Portrait" during a Memorial Day concert, by the Washington National Symphony, dedicated to her late husband, Martin Luther King Jr. on May 31. The concert was originally scheduled to be held at the Lincoln Memorial May 30, where the Poor People's Campaign is encamped. Seated at left is Howard Mitchell, music director, Washington DC, June 1, 1968
Unknown
1968
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
March for Victory: marchers demonstrating for a military victory in Vietnam walked Saturday from the Capitol to a rally at the Washington Monument, Washington DC, October 3, 1970
Unknown Associated Press photographer
1970
Image Not Available for Freedom Marchers in Washington: An estimated 200,000 marched upon Washington earlier this week in a major demonstration asking for Civic Freedoms for all. A large section of the crowd, which came from all parts of the USA, consisted of Negroes. Photo shows a section of the large crowd which gathered in the United States capital for the demonstration, August 31, 1963
Freedom Marchers in Washington: An estimated 200,000 marched upon Washington earlier this week in a major demonstration asking for Civic Freedoms for all. A large section of the crowd, which came from all parts of the USA, consisted of Negroes. Photo shows a section of the large crowd which gathered in the United States capital for the demonstration, August 31, 1963
Unknown
1963
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Sack Time: Some of the thousands of soldiers ordered into Washington to put down looting and arson catch some rest in an automatic laundry shop on H Street in the northeast section of the city today, April 6, 1968
Unknown Associated Press photographer
1968
Image Not Available for Bishop Smallwood B. Williams (center), Washington representative of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, leads prayer for hundreds of Negro demonstrators who assembled across from the White House After the prayer meeting, the group marched to the Justice Department to protest racial discrimination in Washington, June 14, 1963
Bishop Smallwood B. Williams (center), Washington representative of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, leads prayer for hundreds of Negro demonstrators who assembled across from the White House After the prayer meeting, the group marched to the Justice Department to protest racial discrimination in Washington, June 14, 1963
Unknown
1963
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Protest War in Laos: demonstrators gather on Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House today with a Viet Cong flag to protest the South Vietnamese incursion into Laos, Washington DC, February 10, 1971
1971
Image Not Available for Poster for March on Washington: Official poster for the Aug. 28 Civil Rights March on Washington, Washington, D.C. The design prepared by artist Louis LoMonaco of New York City, will also be used as the cover for a portfolio to be sold in Washington on the day of the march, August 18, 1963
Poster for March on Washington: Official poster for the Aug. 28 Civil Rights March on Washington, Washington, D.C. The design prepared by artist Louis LoMonaco of New York City, will also be used as the cover for a portfolio to be sold in Washington on the day of the march, August 18, 1963
Unknown Associated Press photographer
1963
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
The Inaugural Procession at Washington Passing the Gate of the Capitol Grounds
Winslow Homer
March 16, 1861
Image Not Available for Crowd gathers around National Mall during the March on Washington For Jobs and Freedom, Washington D.C., August 28, 1963
Crowd gathers around National Mall during the March on Washington For Jobs and Freedom, Washington D.C., August 28, 1963
Unknown Associated Press photographer
1963
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Police Move In: Washington police march down the center of a street near the Justice Department in Washington as a large symbolic gavel burns. The gavel was carried to the scene by demonstrators, November 15, 1969
Unknown Associated Press photographer
1969