Reuther Gets Honorary Degree: Dr. Russell Brown (rear) confers an honorary degree on Walter Reuther, President of the United Auto Workers Union, at Tuskegee Institute. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who gave the commencement address, can be seen at bottom left. Dr. Brown is Vice President of the Institute, which is a predominant black college in Tuskegee, Alabama.

Walter Philip Reuther (1907-1970) was an American leader of organized labor and Civil Rights activist who built the United Automobile Workers into one of the most progressive labor unions in American history.

On recto: typewritten title and date.
On verso: typewritten title and date stamp.

Wire photographs were originally transmitted over phonelines, then later, by satellite. They were first used in the early 1920s. Associated Press became a leader with this. After pigment touch-ups, etc., the print is put into a drum (like a drum scanner). The image gets converted into audio tones that are transmitted. The tones are received and beamed onto photo-sensitive paper. Wire photographs are copies without originals---they are hybrid, transmitted objects. (Britt Salvesen, Curator and Department Head, Photography Department, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, March 30-31, 2022)

This object has the following keywords:

• Civil Rights Movements
• Dr. Russell Brown
• Honorary degrees
• Injustice
• Male Portraits
• Martin Luther King, Jr.
• Martin Luther King, Jr.
• Racial Discrimination
• Tuskegee Institute
• United Auto Workers
• Walter Reuther

• Image Dimensions: 9 11/16 x 6 7/8 in. (24.61 x 17.46 cm) Measured by Cornejo-Reynoso, Aitzin
• Sheet Dimensions: 9 15/16 x 8 1/16 in. (25.24 x 20.48 cm) Measured by Cornejo-Reynoso, Aitzin