Civil Rights Movement Photographs
They Say That Freedom Is A Constant Struggle

Woolworth sit-in, Jackson, MS. May 28, 1963

"This was the most violently attacked sit-in during the 1960s and is the most publicized. A huge mob gathered, with open police support while the three of us sat there for three hours. I was attacked with fists, brass knuckles and the broken portions of glass sugar containers, and was burned with cigarettes. I'm covered with blood and we were all covered by salt, sugar, mustard, and various other things. Seated, left to right, are myself, Joan Trumpauer (now Mulholland), and Anne Moody (Coming of Age in Mississippi).
Other sit-ins — some in a split-off section and some briefly with our heavily targeted part — were Memphis Norman (himself brutally struck and kicked unconscious), Pearlena Lewis, Lois Chaffee, James Beard, George Raymond, and Walter Williams. —  John Salter (Hunter Bear). (Movement activist Rev. Ed King standing behind sit-ins.)
Black student and sit-in participant Memphis Norman being kicked by Benny Oliver a former Jackson cop. May 28, 1963.
NAACP leaders Roy Wilkins and Medgar Evers being arrested by Deputy Chief J.L. Ray for attempting to picket outside the Jackson Woolworth store three days after the sit-in.

Danville, VA. 1963

"I'm a demonstrating GI, from Fort Bragg.  And the way they treat my people,  Lord it makes me mad.  You know, that I couldn't sit still,  Because my home is in Danville."

In 1963, when a soldier on leave participates in the Danville protests while wearing his uniform, Secretary of Defense McNamara (architect of the Vietnam War) says: "You can go overseas and fight in a uniform, but you can't come back over here picketing and demonstrating in your uniform. That's un-American."  —  Sing for Freedom

Protesters singing on City Hall steps.

An injured demonstrator at a make-shift, first-aid station in a local church after police attack with clubs and firehoses.

Sitting-In, Boycotting, and Picketing for Freedom
Farmville Virginia (Prince Edward County), 1963
Photos courtesy of Vigrinia Commonwealth Univ. Library)

Students demand re-opening of their schools which have been closed for years to prevent court-ordered integration. Closing the schools denied education to Blacks, but white children were given vouchers to attend segregated "private academies" taught by white public-school teachers.

Rev. Goodwin Douglas leads pickets outside county courthouse.

Enforcing the boycott.

Sit-ins being dragged away from the segregated College Shoppe Restaurant.

Protesting segregation in the streets of Farmville.

Freedom Day in Selma, October 1963

"Freedom Day" in Selma, October 1963. Blacks line up and wait, hour after hour, at the courthouse to apply to register to vote. Most don't even reach the door before the office closes.

SNCC Field Secretaries Avery Williams and Chico Neblett arrested for trying to bring water to voter applicants waiting for hours in line at the courthouse.

Sheriff Jim Clark arrests two demonstrators who displayed placard on the steps of the federal building in Selma, 1963.

Bernard LaFayette, SNCC & SCLC. Photo taken June 1963, Selma Alabama, after a brutal Klan beating that almost killed him. That same night they gunned down Medgar Evers in his driveway in a multi-state KKK conspiracy to murder Movement leaders in Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana.

Washington DC, 1963
(See also March on Washington)

CORE protest in front of White House after Assassination of Medgar Evers, June 14, 1963)

CORE protest in front of Department of Justice, after assassination of Medgar Evers, Washington, D.C. June, 1963.

CORE memorial march for victims of Birmingham Church Bombing, Washington DC, September 1963.

Orangeburg, SC. 1963

Mass meeting, Orangeburg, SC. 1963.

Prayer protest, Orangeburg, SC. 1963.

Orangeburg, SC. Fall, 1963. So many students from Claflin College and South Carolina State are in jail for protesting that classrooms are almost empty.

Boycott picketers, Orangeburg, SC. 1963.

Americus, Georgia

In the Streets of DC

Attorney General Robert Kennedy addresses CORE activists protesting outside the Department of Justice. June, 1963

Jail Can't Stop Us Now

We have served our time in jail With no money for to go our bail But we'll never turn back No, we'll never turn back James Forman, SNCC Newly-elected SNCC Chairman John Lewis under arrest in Nashville TN, mid-1963.     Morgan State students in jail after protests at Baltimore's segregated Northwood theater, 1963.   Gadsden, AL, 1963   Young protesters surrounded by white mob.   Tuscaloosa, AL, 1964   Rev. Richard Boone, SCLC field staff. Off to jail!     Under arrest for the crime of defying segregation in Tuscaloosa.   Rev. Raldaph David Abernathy, Dr. Martin Luther King c1962-1963   Savannah Georgia, 1963 March on Washington, Ben Clark, Chatham County Crusade for Voters, to left of banner   Lester Hankerson ("Big Lester") during a voter registration push outside the Longshoreman's Hall, Savannah, Ga.   Students protesting for voting rights, Chatham County Courthouse, Savannah GA 1963. Ben Clark and Hosea Williams at right.   Keep on Keeping On...   Rev. Cephus Colman integrates the whites-only Tusculum neighborhood of Nashville TN. On August 7, 1962, arsonists destroy his home while firemen make take care that the homes on either side are not damaged.   Under arrest! Location and date unknown (probably 1963).     Medical Committee for Civil Rights doctors picketing the AMA convention in Atlantic City to protest segregated health facilities, 1963.     Marching for freedom in New Orleans, 1963 From left march leaders: Lolis Ellie, Rev. A.L. Davis, Ernest "Dutch" Morial, Rev. John Morris, and Oretha Castle Haley.     Chapelhill NC, winter 1964. One of hundreds of anti-segregation protesters doused with freezing water in 15° weather.     More than 50 CORE protesters are arrested in 1964 for protesting at a Tulsa OK restaurant. They "go limp" forcing police to carry them to the paddy wagon and then from the paddy wagon into the jail.   Cambridge, Maryland: 1963 and 1964   Nonviolent protesters in Cambridge are assaulted by the owner of a segregated cafe, July 1963. The demonstrators are then arrested.     Cambridge Nonviolent Action Committee (CNAC) leader Gloria Richardson stands between Maryland National Guardsmen and protesters, July 1963. Marching in Cambridge, 1964.     The Maryland National Guard permits a segregated white-only rally for George Wallace, but blocks nonviolent Blacks from protesting, 1964.         Gloria Richardson, Stokely Carmichael, and Cleve Sellers taken into custody, 1964.

Shout for Freedom!

Martin Luther King and Malcolm X meet during Senate debate on Civil Rights bill, 1964.

Copyrights © to these photographs belong to the photographers. Commercial use of these pictures is prohibited without the express written permission of the photographer. To identify the photographer (if known), simply let your cursor hover over the image to display the photographer's name, or view the image metadata.

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