Hard Hat Rally

Hard Hat Rally, New York, 1969; Gelatin silver print (printed 1978). Gift of Ivor Massey, Collection of the Minneapolis INstitue of Art, 82.127.5

Photo: Garry Winogrand

The black-and-white photographs document protest movements, particularly the civil rights struggle in the American South, the women’s movement and the Iranian Revolution.

To varying degrees, the photographers who took these images captured the powerful human experience, drama, valor and spirit of fights for human rights.

They are part of Resistance, Protest, Resilience, on now at the Haggerty Museum of Art. Most of the photos come from the collection of the Minneapolis Museum of Art.

Collectively, they serve as a reminder of chapters from history that continue to play out in the U.S. political and social landscape — markers not only of how far we have come, but also how we are still dealing with the same issues, over and over again.

March on Washington DC

The march on Washington, D.C., August 23, 1963; Gelatin silver print (printed 1999). The Alfred and Ingrid Lenz Harrison Purchase Fund, Collection of the Minneapolis Institute of Art, 2001.45.2.12.

The exhibition begins with powerful images by Danny Lyon, a noted photographer and filmmaker who has had a long career as an activist and artist. Featured are pictures and text that were included in his book Memories of the Southern Civil Rights Movement, which is a poignant documenting of the daily fight for racial equality in the 1960s. One of the first pieces is captioned “Cairo, Illinois. The public swimming pool has been changed to a ‘private pool’ in order to remain segregated.” A line of young black men stand outside a door where a group of white men are gathered behind a sign that declares the pool private and available to “Members Only.” One of them speaks to a black man who stands outside the door with his hands solemnly behind his back. The tension is palpable, and erupts in other images.

Lyon photographed scenes in the aftermath of the 1963 bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, that killed four 14-year-old girls in Sunday school. He photographed mourners along the route of the funeral procession, communicating the dismay, shock and sadness of this unfathomable event, executed by a member of the Ku Klux Klan. Lyon’s images are a poignant reminder of the emotional and human toll of this tragedy.

Photographs by Garry Winogrand record the dynamic power of the women’s movement, as well as explore “the effect of media on events,” for which he was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1969. While some images fixate a bit more on the presence of cameras and microphones even more than the event they cover, a piece from his “Women Are Beautiful” portfolio places the viewer directly in the moment. “Women’s Rights March, New York,” taken in 1971, puts us in the middle of a boulevard where women walk purposefully, holding protest signs high. One sign reads “Stop the World, We Want to Get On.” Nearly 50 years later, great strides have been made for gender equality, but the fact that these messages still resonate describes a society that still has a long way to go.

The exhibition is complemented by an array of photographs commemorating the marches for fair housing and civil rights that took place in Milwaukee five decades ago. Following leaders like Ald. Vel Phillips, who was both the first African-American and first woman elected to the Milwaukee Common Council, and Catholic priest James Groppi, the marches took place for 200 nights. Housing was a focus, but protesters were also demanding changes to places like the Eagles Club, which maintained an all-white membership. These photographs bring us closer to a chapter of Milwaukee’s past and American history that we would do well to remember — and to continue the resistance against the injustices of discrimination and violence.

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