A black and white photograph of women seated on top of a car decorated with floral garlands in …

Untitled

Artist Bruce Davidson (American, born 1933)

Date1962

Mediummodern gelatin silver print

DimensionsImage: 9 × 13 inches (22.9 × 33 cm)
Sheet: 11 × 14 inches (27.9 × 35.6 cm)
Matted: 16 × 20 inches (40.6 × 50.8 cm)

Portfolio/Series"Time of Change" series

Credit LineGift of an anonymous donor.

Object number2018.16.329

On View

Not on view

Copyright© Bruce Davidson 1962. The images and text contained on this page are owned by Telfair Museums or used by the Museum with permission from the owners. Unauthorized reproduction, transmission or display of these materials is prohibited with the exception of items deemed “fair use” as defined by U.S. and international copyright laws.Label TextDavidson captured this Savannah scene the same year he received a Guggenheim Fellowship to photograph the civil rights movement. Those images now belong to a series entitled Time of Change, which civil rights icon Congressman John Lewis—who came to know Davidson during the Freedom Rides—described as an important work of activism that transported the world to “small Southern towns” and inspired many “to join the movement.” Congressman Lewis also reflected: “Without the media and without these [Davidson’s] powerful images, I don’t know where we’d be today; I don’t know how the movement would have succeeded.” Here, Davidson captures a local parade. Men and women, dressed to impress, gather on and around a car, decorated with garlands of roses. By 1962, African Americans in Savannah were in the process of fighting for the desegregation of their city. While the exact parade depicted in this image has not been identified, Davidson must have captured it on his way to documenting the unrest fomenting throughout the South. Text written for the exhibition Vehicles of Change, February 27-August 22, 2021.

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