September 5, 2007
“Let Your Motto Be Resistance” Posted by Joshua Zeitz at 02:40 PM EST Since its inception, American Heritage has been headquartered in New York City, but since the magazine and website are dedicated first and foremost to all things American, we try not to overemphasize the local roots of the outfit. With this caveat in mind, I hope that readers outside the New York/New Jersey/Connecticut metropolitan region will indulge the following recommendation: Last weekend I went into Manhattan to visit the International Center of Photography’s temporary exhibit “Let Your Motto Be Resistance”—a collection of still photographs of African-American leaders from the political, cultural, and athletic arenas. It’s a remarkable exhibit, but it closes on September 9. I highly recommend a visit—soon. The exhibit includes familiar portraits of familiar faces, like Paul Robeson and W. E. B. DuBois, as well as unfamiliar portraits of familiar faces, like some rare shots of Booker T. Washington and Martin Luther King, Jr. Though the cast of characters includes many predictables—from Harry Belafonte and Louis Armstrong to Malcolm X and Jack Johnson—the portraits are tremendously effective when seen together. What’s more, even scholars of African-American history will find more than a few photos of once-famous black artists and cultural figures who have slipped from the canon. By far the most difficult feature of the exhibit is a photograph of three of Martin Luther King’s children—Yolanda (age 12), Martin III (age 11), and Bernice (age 5). (Missing in the frame is King’s son Dexter, who was 7 at the time.) The three Kings are standing next to their father’s open coffin, where the slain civil rights leader rests before his final burial. Yolanda’s and Martin’s eyes betray absolute grief; their sister, Bernice, who, according to the placard accompanying the photo, had just viewed her father’s body for the first time, is in shock: Her mouth is hung open, her eyes are wide, she seems more in a state of disbelief than anything else, for she is only five, and the totality of the week’s events must have been difficult for her to comprehend. It’s a moving photo—difficult to view, and equally difficult to leave behind. The International Center of Photography is located on Sixth Avenue at 43rd Street in New York City.
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