- Spider Martin
James "Spider" Martin (
April 1 1939 –April 8 2003 ) was an Americanphotographer known for his work documenting the American Civil Rights Movement.Martin was born in
Fairfield, Alabama . [cite web|url=http://www.informationbirmingham.com/councilminutes/2003/dec/Mins0506.y03.pdf|format=PDF|title=Resolution # 684-03|last=Abbott|first=Valerie A.|date=2003-05-06 |accessdate=2007-01-07|work=Regular Meeting of the Council of the City of Birmingham] His best known photograph document of the civil rights era is the March 1965 beating of marchers in the Selma to Montgomery march. Known as “Bloody Sunday”, the event that greatly influenced the course of civil rights in the U.S. About the effect of photography on the Civil Rights Movement,Martin Luther King, Jr. said, "Spider, we could have marched, we could have protested forever, but if it weren't for guys like you, it would have been for nothing. The whole world saw your pictures. That's why the Voting Rights Act was passed." cite web | title = Selma to Montgomery: A March for the Right to Vote | publisher =The Spider Martin Civil Rights Collection | url =http://www.spidermartin.com/about.html | accessdate = 2006-01-04 ]Martin believed because of his small stature, just over five feet tall, that he was able to canvas through a crowd to get some of his best close-ups.
Martin’s photographs are on display in the
Smithsonian and theBirmingham Civil Rights Institute . He was also published in "Life" and "Saturday Evening Post ." A selection of his work was exhibited in the Cannon Rotunda in Washington, D.C. in honor of all who sacrificed in the Voting Rights March from Selma to Montgomery. cite web | title = Selma to Montgomery: A March for the Right to Vote | publisher =The Spider Martin Civil Rights Collection | url =http://www.spidermartin.com/about.html | accessdate = 2006-01-04 ] Martin also exhibited in Agnes. He died by suicide in 2003 inBlount Springs, Alabama .
=See also=
*Photographers of the American Civil Rights Movement References
External links
* [http://www.spidermartin.com Official Website]
* [http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=20036 Who Was Spider Martin?]
* [http://www.ccom.ua.edu/od/martin.shtml About Spider by Ed Mullins]
* [http://www.birminghamweekly.com/archived/pages/20050303_coverstory.php Birmingham Weekly] (Cover Story) photography by Spider Martin
* [http://prx.org/pieces/14091 WBHM Public Radio-Voices of the Civil Rights Movement]
* [http://blog.locustfork.net/index.php/death-of-newspapers/birmingham-news/ Birmingham News Glosses Over Its Racist Past]
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