The Mississippi Museum of Art will present "Photography and the Black Arts Movement, 1955-1985," an exhibition featuring over 100 photographers whose work shaped the Black Arts Movement. The show includes iconic images such as Ernest Withers's 1968 photograph of Memphis sanitation workers striking with "I Am A Man" signs, Ming Smith's portrait of Sun Ra, and Ralph Arnold's collage critiquing war and violence. Running from July 25 to November 8 in Jackson, the exhibition spans editorial and commercial photography, self-portraits, and mixed-media works that document protest, cultural identity, and resistance during the Jim Crow era.
This exhibition matters because it foregrounds photography's role as a democratic tool for political and social change, particularly within the Black Arts Movement. By bringing together works that challenged state-sanctioned racism and celebrated Black culture, the show underscores how photographers served as activists and documentarians. It also highlights the enduring power of images to shape collective memory and inspire movements for justice, connecting historical struggles to contemporary conversations about race and representation.