Existing comment:
Danny Lyon, born 1942
In the summer of 1962, Danny Lyon left the University of Chicago, where he was studying history, and hitchhiked south to immerse himself in the civil rights movement. Upon arriving in segregated Albany, Georgia, he became the first photographer for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), which was then led by James Forman.
During his time in the South, Lyon documented SNCC protests and the harrowing conditions of African Americans; many of his images were used for posters and other materials meant to increase public awareness. Several of these documentary photographs are presented in a book, Memoirs of the Southern Civil Rights Movement (1990). Lyon notes, "I had the rare privilege to see history firsthand." This casual photograph, taken in Albany the morning after his arrival, shows him in front of the barber- shop that served as the local SNCC office.
1962 |