Snapshots of history

Photo exhibit part of Black History Month events

The civil rights movement is chronicled through striking black and white images in the “Witness to History: The Photography of Ernest Withers” exhibit.

More than 50 prints by the late photographer are on display through March 16 at Nova Southeastern University’s Alvin Sherman Library inDavie. The exhibit is part of NSU’s African Presence 2014, in observance of Black HistoryMonth.

Curator Babacar M’bow went to Memphis, where the archive of more than 1 million images is kept in the Withers Collection Museum and Gallery.

“This year is a very significant year with it being the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1964,” he said. “When the university asked meto organize it, Iwas trying not to go about the classical way by doing an exhibition of photographs of civil rights with marching. I wanted to put civil rights in context. Whatwas happening? Why were people marching? … At the same time how, underneath all that segregation and division, there was this dynamic interrelationship between white and black that was going underground with the music.”

He divided the space into three sections focusing on civil rights, as well as the parallel movement in sports and music. Among the images is one showing a black family whose house was bulldozed and another of a black woman proudly holding her newly gained voter registration card.

Historymakers, such as Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall and civil rights activists Martin Luther King, Jr. and Medgar Evers, also are featured. There’s a picture of King leaving his hotel room minutes before hewas killed.

There also are uplifting images of trailblazers in entertainment and sports, including the Negro League’s Detroit Stars, Sammy Davis Jr. and Tina Turner. Accompanying the photos are video clips and audio

50

years

ago,

so entries put together by NSU, models of cameras Withers used and mannequins showcasing fashions from the 1960s and ‘ 70s.

Mara Kiffin, chairwoman of NSU’s Black History Month organizing committee, wants visitors to leave with a true experience of the time.

“It’s

it seems so far removed, especially for youngstudents,” she said. “… I want them to walk through to realize that this is part of American history. It may not be pretty, but it is a part of who we are as a nation.”

For more information on the exhibit or NSU’s Black HistoryMonth activities, visit Nova. edu/ blackhistory.