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Never-before-seen photographs of Civil Rights icon Rosa Parks, captured during the momentous 1965 Selma to Montgomery march, have been publicly released, offering a powerful new dimension to her renowned legacy. These compelling images, taken by the late Civil Rights photographer Matt Herron, illustrate Parks’ sustained commitment to activism beyond her pivotal act of civil disobedience on a Montgomery bus a decade earlier. Their unveiling provides a fresh perspective on her enduring involvement in the struggle for racial equality, reinforcing her role as a continuous force for change and challenging the singular narrative often associated with her.
The newly released collection highlights Parks’ active participation in the arduous five-day, 54-mile (87-kilometre) trek from Selma to Montgomery, a demonstration widely credited with galvanising crucial political support for the landmark US Voting Rights Act of 1965. While history often focuses on her courageous refusal to yield her bus seat in December 1955 – an act that ignited the 381-day Montgomery Bus Boycott and ultimately led to the desegregation of public transport – these images powerfully underscore her active presence and unwavering dedication throughout many of the movement’s most crucial and physically demanding moments. The Rosa Parks Museum in Montgomery is now the proud custodian of these significant historical photographs.
Matt Herron, a dedicated photographer who relocated to Jackson, Mississippi, in 1963 following the assassination of Medgar Evers, meticulously documented the turbulent Civil Rights era for two years. His discerning lens often turned not just towards the prominent leaders, but crucially, towards the “masses of everyday people” whose collective courage and resilience propelled the movement for fundamental change. Despite Herron’s extensive exhibitions and numerous publications throughout his lifetime, these particular images of Parks, taken a full decade after the bus boycott, remained largely unseen. His 88-year-old wife, Jeannine Herron, made the discovery on a contact sheet housed at Stanford University, explaining they were likely not selected for print at the time due to blurriness or because they featured individuals whose names were not widely known. In the case of Parks, the new images depict her seated quietly among the crowd, looking away from the camera.
Beyond the iconic figures, Herron’s work also captured the deeply personal narratives of ordinary individuals, such as Doris Wilson, then a resilient 20-year-old from Marion, Alabama. Ms. Wilson, a frequent subject during the arduous Selma to Montgomery march, recently experienced a poignant and unexpected reunion sixty years later. During the march, she suffered severely blistered feet from walking over ten miles daily, injuries that were tenderly treated by physician Dr. June Finer. In a remarkable turn of events, Dr. Finer, now 90, flew from New York specifically to reunite with Ms. Wilson, sharing an emotional embrace and a heartfelt laugh over the long-ago medical care, a testament to the shared sacrifices and bonds forged during the struggle.
The public display of Herron’s evocative photographs, including those featuring Ms. Wilson receiving medical attention in a makeshift tent, brought a profound sense of validation and astonishment to her family. Her 62-year-old son, Robert E. Wilson, expressed his deep surprise, stating, “I’m so stunned. She always said she was in the march, but I never knew she was strong like that,” having never before seen these powerful images of his mother displayed. The photographs, showcased in the very Lincoln Normal School Ms. Wilson once attended, offered a tangible and compelling connection to her past activism, solidifying her personal history within the broader, collective narrative of the Civil Rights Movement.
Another powerful and equally moving story emerged with the profound validation received by Cheryl Gardner Davis. At just four years old, Ms. Davis had faint but persistent recollections of her family hosting weary marchers in their home in rural Lowndes County on the third night of the 1965 march. She vividly remembered “hordes of strangers” erecting tents on their farm, and her mother and older sister diligently mopping up mud from people using their precious landline phone. As an adult, Ms. Davis fully grasped the immense and often unacknowledged sacrifices her family made: her mother’s teaching job was directly threatened, their power supply was cut off in retaliation, and a hostile neighbour menaced them with a rifle, embodying the severe risks taken by those who supported the movement.
For many years, Ms. Davis diligently scoured the internet and various libraries, desperately searching for photographic proof of her family’s hardship, or at least an image of their property during that transformative historical period. Among the hundreds of photos meticulously returned to Alabama in early December were images depicting the very campsite at Ms. Davis’s childhood home, a discovery she had never seen before and one that brought immense emotional resonance. Describing the find as a vital way to shed light on the often-overlooked individuals and families who formed the backbone of that era, Ms. Davis affirmed, “It’s, in a sense, validation. This actually happened, and people were there,” powerfully underscoring the collective effort, courage, and widespread participation that truly defined the Civil Rights Movement. Jeannine Herron is now collaborating with historians and surviving activists to reconnect these powerful images with the communities and families they depict, ensuring these stories are not lost.
