© 2024 Iowa Public Radio
Donate
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Capturing the "Freedom Summer"

By Ben Kieffer
Published August 8, 2014 at 12:22 PM CDT
1 of 6
Edie Black, a Freedom School teacher from Smith College with two of her students in Mileston, Mississippi, a small community of independent black farmers in the Mississippi Delta. The Freedom School experience changed both teachers and students in ways th
Matt Herron
2 of 6
Edie Black, a Freedom School teacher from Smith College with two of her students in Mileston, Mississippi, a small community of independent black farmers in the Mississippi Delta. The Freedom School experience changed both teachers and students in ways th
Matt Herron
3 of 6
Black and white volunteers mount shotgun watch against Klan members that have threatened to bomb or burn a newly-constructed community center in Mileston.
Matt Herron
4 of 6
Black and white volunteers mount shotgun watch against Klan members that have threatened to bomb or burn a newly-constructed community center in Mileston.
Matt Herron
5 of 6
Matt Herron
6 of 6
Matt Herron

50 years ago, Matt Herron gathered a team of photographers to capture the tumultuous summer of 1964 in Mississippi. Now he's in Iowa, sharing his photos and his stories. His work will be displayed in the  Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum in West Branch through September 21.

Host Ben Kieffer talks with Herron about how photography interacted with the civil rights movement and how we can use photography today to make history hit home.

Stay Connected
Ben Kieffer
Ben Kieffer is the host of IPR's River to River
See stories by Ben Kieffer