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SSI96290 Portrait of Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968) (oil on board) by Anthony Gruerio (20th Century), Private Collection Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-68)
This month we celebrate the birth of Martin Luther King, Jr. and his ongoing message of racial harmony. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his historic "I have a dream" speech to more than 300,000 people at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28th, 1963. The peaceful rally is largely credited with leading the way for the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the National Voting Rights Act (1965).
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Nat Herz and The March on Washington
Photographer Nat Herz documented the March on Washington both with a camera and his pen:
“It was very important to me to photograph inside the March not outside of it. I wanted to be subjectively part of it while objectively viewing it. I wanted to be swept by the heat of the day's changing emotions while coolly composing pictures in my camera's viewfinder. I wanted to relate pictures of single, mysterious individuals to the general throng of gathering thousands, relating the one to the many as is natural in a country with our nation's motto. It was necessary to show the ordinary happenings of people such as eating, napping, day dreaming taking on the extraordinary tones of a day to be looked at by other eyes than ours in time to come.”
-Nat Herz (excerpt from manuscript, © Barbara Singer)
BOT219750 The Marching Band, 2000 (oil on board) by Colin Bootman (Contemporary Artist), Private Collection Contemporary Artist Focus: Colin Bootman
A Trinidad native, Colin Bootman moved to New York as a child. At a young age, Bootman was inspired by both the diversity of his native home and his adjustment to new surroundings in New York City. As a professional illustrator, Bootman has published many books including, Young Frederick Douglass, Follow the Leader, In Momma’s Kitchen and Papa’s Mark. He has also won numerous awards including the Coretta Scott King Honor in 2004 and the Schneider Family Book Award in 2006, among others.