“I AM A MAN” displays a wide range of photographs that provide a vivid visual story of the evolution of the civil rights movement.
COMMERCE, TX, October 28, 2024—Texas A&M University-Commerce is pleased to announce I AM A MAN: Photographs of the Civil Rights Movement, 1960–1970. The exhibition will be on display from November 11 through December 20, 2024, in the University Gallery located in the Art Building at 2005 University Dr. in Commerce, TX. A reception will be held Tuesday, November 12 from 5–7 p.m. The gallery is open weekly Monday through Friday, 11 a.m.–5 p.m. (except for university holidays) and by appointment.
I AM A MAN: Photographs of the Civil Rights Movement, 1960–1970 displays a wide range of photographs taken by amateurs, local photojournalists, and internationally known photographers. Together, they provide a vivid visual story of the evolution of the civil rights movement and shed light on the movement’s integration in daily living in the American South.
When developing this exhibition, Southern folklorist, author and curator William Ferris and his research team sought out photos taken in the heat of the civil rights movement, by activists or local news photographers, who documented history taking place before their eyes. Viewers of the exhibition will recognize the photographs of protestors who carried signs with messages like “I Am A Man” or sat at segregated lunch counters as iconic images associated with the movement, while numerous other photographs presented in the exhibition have rarely been seen until now.
Key events 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.
This traveling exhibition has been adapted from an exhibition originally produced for the Pavillon Populaire in Montpellier, France, by the Center for Study of the American South at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The French exhibition was funded by the City of Montpellier and administered by Gilles Mora, director of the Pavillion Populaire.
For more information, please contact Melynda Seaton, Art Gallery Director and Assistant Professor of Art History. Learn more about Art at A&M-Commerce.
