I AM A MAN • New Castle Museum Exhibit Offers Striking Chronicle of the Civil Rights Movement

The decade from 1960-1970 was a momentous time for the civil rights movement in the American South. It was an historic decade that unleashed both hope for the future and profound change as public spaces were desegregated and as African Americans secured their right to vote.

To commemorate this singular decade The Castle Museum of Saginaw County History will be showcasing an exhibition titled I AM A MAN: Photographs of the Civil Rights Movement, 1960-1970, which displays a broad range of 47 photographs captured amateurs, local photojournalists, and internationally known photographers.

Together, they chronicle a vivid visual story of the evolution of the civil rights movement and shed light on the movement’s integration into daily living into the American South.

Curated by William Reynolds Ferris, the Joel R Williamson Eminent Professor of History Emeritus at the University of North Carolina and organized by the Center for Study of the American South at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, according to the Castle Museum’s Jennifer Vanette, Reynolds is an important Southern folklorist and historian who presents a unique retrospective of the civil right movement through visual means. 

“He intentionally collected images captured by photo journalists. but also included amateur photographers because so much of the movement happened in the heat of the moment that he wanted to display the range of those precise moments of pivotal change as desegregation was actually happening.”

Inspired by the voice of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., thousands of courageous people risked their lives to end Jim Crow segregation, and photographs were made in the midst of often-dangerous confrontations. This exhibition takes its name, “I am a Man’ from the slogan of the sanitation workers’ strike Martin Luther King, Jr., was supposed to lead the day after he was assassinated fifty years ago.  Dr. King and other civil rights leaders relied on the power of photographs to persuade and to motivate change during the movement.

“These photographs capture history being made before your eyes, and contains imagery not a lot of people have had an opportunity to see” continues Vanette.  “Key events captured in this exhibition include James Meredith’s admission to the University of Mississippi, Ku Klux Klan gatherings, the Selma Montgomery March in Alabama, the sanitation workers’ strike in Memphis, Martin Luther King’s funeral, the Poor People’s Campaign, and the Mule Train. Within the history of this photography, images of the civil rights movement mark a special body of work.”

Like the fabled music and narratives of the American South, photographs bear witness to the region’s past, to its people, and to the places that shaped their lives.  The photographs featured in this exhibition are vessels of truth - trough about the courage of protestors who faced unimaginable violence and brutality with the quiet determination of elders and the angry commitment of the young. Even though these photos were taken fifty years ago, they remain relevant today. They remind us of the brave sacrifices that were made to secure the enforcement of civil rights for African Americans.

With the exhibition running from April 6 - May 25^th,  the Castle Museum will also be hosting a special Lunch & Learn event on Tuesday, May 13^th, from noon to 1 PM featuring Terry Pruitt, President of the local Saginaw branch of the NAACP, who will discuss both the history of the organization and the civil rights movement in the Great Lakes Bay region.

The Castle Museum is located at 500 Federal Avenue in Downtown Saginaw and is open seven days a week, Sunday from 1:00 - 4:30 pm; Monday - Wednesday 10 am - 4:30 pm; Thursday 10 am - 7 pm; and Friday - Saturday from 10 am to 4:30 pm.   Admission is free for all Saginaw County residents and offers affordable admission to all non-county residents of only $3.00 per person, $2.00 for seniors, or $5.00 for a family.

Discover more online at CastleMuseum.org or on your favorite social media @thecastlemuseum.