Mine Eyes Have Seen: Bearing Witness to the Civil Rights Struggle - Hardcover

Stirring and triumphant photographs evoke the heady days of the Civil Rights' Movement when America faced its worst nightmare and the Dream won. Fuelled by the powerful imagery in "Mine Eyes Have Seen", we take a rollercoaster ride, peering through the eyes of "LIFE" photographer Bob Adelman as America struggles. We are both seared and uplifted by unforgettable photographs of America's dramatic journey through its still aching racial conflicts. Incredibly, only a generation ago, public signs shamefully separated people according to their skin colour. Selfless activists from all walks of life rallied under inspired leaders to dismantle those last vestiges of slavery.Picture by picture, we see racial barriers fall confronted with moral outrage and public scrutiny. In some of the most riveting images we are reminded that racism was not restricted to one section of the nation. Attuned to the vitality and expressiveness of African American culture, we see evocative and penetrating portraits of artists and writers as diverse as the Quilters of Gees Bend, Ralph Ellison, Sidney Poitier, James Baldwin, and Miles Davis. Together with the Black Church, the extraordinary creativity of artists and ordinary folk were formidable resources from which the Movement drew its strength and its inventiveness. Concluding on a note of celebration, the photographs reveal ever-increasing signs of racial reconciliation.

Charles Johnson is currently the S. Wilson and Grace M. Pollock Professor of Writing at the University of Washington in Seattle.