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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: 8 1/2 x 5 7/8 in. (21.6 x 14.9 cm)
Accession Number 2025.242
Classificationsphotograph
ProvenanceJeff Perry; Des Moines Art Center [gift from the previous, 2025]
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
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
Image Not Available for Leads Poor Campaign: Civil rights leader Rev. Ralph Abernathy wipes his face during his appearance before a Senate Labor and Public Welfare subcommittee in Washington, April 20, 1968. Abernathy is the president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and successor to the assassinated Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, Washington D.C., April 30, 1968
Leads Poor Campaign: Civil rights leader Rev. Ralph Abernathy wipes his face during his appearance before a Senate Labor and Public Welfare subcommittee in Washington, April 20, 1968. Abernathy is the president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and successor to the assassinated Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, Washington D.C., April 30, 1968
Unknown Associated Press photographer
1968
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Key figures in the Southern bloc of about 75 House members who have pledged themselves to fight Civil Rights when it comes up on House floor on March 10th are shown as they conferred following a luncheon conference. Left to right: Representatives John Bell Williams (D-Mississippi), John L. Flynt (D-Georgia) and Dale Alford (D-Arkansas), Washington D.C., March 9, 1960
Unknown
1960
Image Not Available for Dr. Martin Luther King (right) of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference July 28th condemned Negro riots as a "self-defeating passion, "while castigating Congress for "loving rats more than Negroes," At the same time Roy Wilkins (left), executive Secretary of the NAACP said the traffic gluts in Los Angeles, scene of a racial uprising in 1965, show the city "cares more about care than people." Both appeared on a panel oh race riots at the concluding sessions of the International Platform Association, July 28, 1967
Dr. Martin Luther King (right) of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference July 28th condemned Negro riots as a "self-defeating passion, "while castigating Congress for "loving rats more than Negroes," At the same time Roy Wilkins (left), executive Secretary of the NAACP said the traffic gluts in Los Angeles, scene of a racial uprising in 1965, show the city "cares more about care than people." Both appeared on a panel oh race riots at the concluding sessions of the International Platform Association, July 28, 1967
Unknown
1967
Image Not Available for Several Hundred demonstrators marched on the Washington State Capitol Sunday in protest over treatment of Negroes in the South and the slaying of the Reverend James Reeb, Boston Unitarian minister, in Selma, Alabama last week. A letter from Governor Dan Evans was read to the throng. The governor decried the situation in the South, but warned against smugness in this state, saying much needs to be done, March 16, 1965
Several Hundred demonstrators marched on the Washington State Capitol Sunday in protest over treatment of Negroes in the South and the slaying of the Reverend James Reeb, Boston Unitarian minister, in Selma, Alabama last week. A letter from Governor Dan Evans was read to the throng. The governor decried the situation in the South, but warned against smugness in this state, saying much needs to be done, March 16, 1965
Unknown Associated Press photographer
1965
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
Image Not Available for Tolerance Group in Washington: A committee representing the Chicago Council against racial and religious discrimination, visits Attorney General J. Howard McGrath at Washington, D.C., September 27, to bring to his attention the events revolving about the rioting in Cicero, Illinois last July when a colored family was prevented from moving into an apartment by a mob which was quelled by the Illinois National Guard. The attorney general advised that on the basis of investigation by the FBI, he intended to present these vents before a federal grand jury for further exploration..., September 28, 1951
Tolerance Group in Washington: A committee representing the Chicago Council against racial and religious discrimination, visits Attorney General J. Howard McGrath at Washington, D.C., September 27, to bring to his attention the events revolving about the rioting in Cicero, Illinois last July when a colored family was prevented from moving into an apartment by a mob which was quelled by the Illinois National Guard. The attorney general advised that on the basis of investigation by the FBI, he intended to present these vents before a federal grand jury for further exploration..., September 28, 1951
Unknown Associated Press photographer
1951
Image Not Available for Conference In Wake of Assassination: President Johnson today met in the White House Cabinet Room with civil rights leaders and government officials. The conference was called in wake of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther king Jr. At left is Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, Washington DC, April 5, 1968
Conference In Wake of Assassination: President Johnson today met in the White House Cabinet Room with civil rights leaders and government officials. The conference was called in wake of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther king Jr. At left is Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, Washington DC, April 5, 1968
Unknown Associated Press photographer
1968
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
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
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
...As Demonstrators Marched: Participants in the "March Against Death" place the name cards of United States military killed in Vietnam in the coffins, left, at the foot of the Capitol tonight. The 40-hour procession from Arlington Cemetery is part of Vietnam Moratorium activity in Washington, November 13, 1969
Unknown Associated Press photographer
1969
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Of Mississippi Matters: Aaron Henry, Mississippi president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, appears today before a House Judiciary Subcommittee. Henry a close associate of slain negro leader Medgar W. Evers, was called to testify on racial problems in Mississippi. The subcommittee is holding hearings on proposed civil rights legislation, Washington DC, June 13, 1963
Unknown Associated Press photographer
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
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
Unknown Associated Press photographer
1963