Preserving 60 Years Of Civil Rights History
As the city of Selma AL commemorates the 60th anniversary of “Bloody Sunday,” Robert Finkel, associate professor and program chair at Auburn University’s School of Industrial and Graphic Design, is helping share the history of that fateful day through several projects.
“Bloody Sunday,” March 7, 1965, was a pivotal moment in the American Civil RIghts Movement. During a peaceful march in Selma, demonstrators were brutally attacked by state troopers, drawing national attention to the struggle for equal voting rights for African Americans. The event galvanized public support and led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, landmark legislation that aimed to eliminate racial discrimination in voting.
Finkel’s first foray into research on Bloody Sunday came when he was approached by colleagues in building science, history and architecture who were documenting the areas around the Edmund Pettus Bridge using historical photos and video footage, photogrammetry software, laser scanners and drones.
Having collected a great deal of data they wanted to share with the public, the team members knew they needed to establish a comprehensive visual communication strategy, so they asked Finkel to join their team.
“Collectively, we refer to our work as ‘Information and emotion … visual communication for social histories,’” Finkel said. “The outputs are exhibits, digital humanities projects, books and other types of engaged experiences. The collaboration between graphic design, history and preservation has been very natural and complementary.”
With support from an Alabama Humanities Alliance Media Grant, Finkel has developed the Selma Bloody Sunday History website, which includes a virtual tour of the conflict site, archival photos and interpretive content that allows users to see which marchers have been identified by name and which have not. Website visitors can experience the events of Bloody Sunday, from the assembly of marchers that morning at Brown Chapel A.M.E. Church to the march through downtown Selma, the conflict with Alabama State Troopers after crossing the bridge, the forced chase back to their homes and churches and, ultimately, the spread of news coverage throughout the nation.
Finkel also designed the Selma Bloody Sunday Foot Soldiers Traveling Exhibit, which is on display at Selma University, a small HBCU in Selma. The exhibit connects the public with the Auburn team’s existing research and solicits information to help identify the 600 marchers, more than 400 of whom have yet to be named.
In addition to the exhibit and website, Finkel designed a book titled Selma Is Now: The March for Justice Continues that commemorates the 60th anniversary of the Selma-to-Montgomery marches as shown through the lens of photographer Spider Martin. Martin was a photojournalist for The Birmingham News who is best known for his powerful photos of Bloody Sunday. His iconic images helped to bring national attention to the movement, and Martin Luther King Jr. acknowledged that the images helped inspire lawmakers to pass the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
The book contains more than 60 images taken during the marches as well as first-person handwritten notes and memories from Martin. It also features essays and reflections from Martin’s daughter, Tracy, American history expert Don Carelton and presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, among others. Published by the University of Texas Press, the book is written by Doug McCraw and Tracy Martin and designed by Finkel and Tyler Jones of Alabama-based narrative studio 1504.
