The Selma to Montgomery Marches: Press in front of marchers filming the march, Montgomery, March 1965

1965

The Selma to Montgomery Marches: Press in front of marchers filming the march, Montgomery, March 1965, 1965. America. Gelatin silver print, wirephoto; image: 18.9 x 24 cm (7 7/16 x 9 7/16 in.); paper: 20.2 x 25.4 cm (7 15/16 x 10 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, The Jane B. Tripp Charitable Lead Annuity Trust 2021.18 In contrast with his colleagues jockeying for position at the front of the march to catch close-ups of its leaders, this photojournalist found an elevated vantage point farther way. The distance allowed him to convey the length and density of the line of marchers and the relationship between them and the press. News coverage of the Selma march in newspapers and on televisions in the politically influential cities of Washington, D.C. and New York was crucial to getting a national voting rights act passed. Press coverage was an important tool for the Civil Rights Movement.