audiobook For All the World to See: Visual Culture and the Struggle for Civil Rights by Maurice Berger in History

Review

0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. "Let the world see what I've seen"By Robert C RossThis wonderful book captures extraordinary moments in the Civil Rights movement; starting for me during the period from my late teens. I grew up in a small farming community in Wisconsin; there were no African Americans closer than ten miles away; and it was a shock to visit southern Illinois and see segregated toilets.But my first real exposure to the cultural struggles occured during a student exchange trip to Texas; my exchange partner's mother was adamant that her grandchildren would never attend segregated schools as had been recently mandated in the Brown decision. Her intensity of feeling made a deep impression; and I resolved to learn a great deal more about race and America.One of my first discoveries in the stacks at the University of Wisconsin library was a "Life" magazine look alike called "Ebony". I read ten years worth of issues; and was shocked at images I had never seen before; including the battered face of Emmett Till. A few months later when the bus boycotts began; similar images began to appear in the local and then the national press.Over the next several years I became much more aware of the struggle; serving as a volunteer lawyer in Mississippi with the President's Committee; among other things. And; of course; the number and intensity of the images proliferated. But they tended to be isolated in my mind; tied to specific events and people.During that period; photographs of newsworthy events made them visible; more immediate; and it seemed more real. Today; in the age of social media and its enormous effect in Egypt and elsewhere; it is hard to understand the impact. but for Gordon Parks; a leading photographer of the era; the camera was the "'weapon of choice' in the war against racism and segregation; part of a visual arsenal that could transform public opinion; motivate political action; or bolster morale."Civil rights leaders and activists agreed. They were; according to the exhibition notes; "often exceptionally skillful image-makers; adept at capitalizing on the authority of pictures to edify; educate; and persuade. They also understood; and took advantage of; new visual technologies as well as society's insatiable hunger for pictures."As the publisher writes; "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."It's an examination that anyone interested in the history of the modern United States simply has to see. Otherwise; you will remain as naive and uninformed as I was as a Wisconsin farm boy many years ago.Robert C. Ross 2010Revised March 2012Revised February 2015