The Door is Open: White school kids walk past state troopers and enter West End High in Birmingham, Alabama. The school, scheduled to be integrated, was closed by Governor George Wallace. He opened it today by executive order, but on a segregated basis.

Associated Press ID#6309090188

On recto: typewritten title and date.
On verso: manuscript title and Associated Press 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:

• Birmingham
• Civil Rights Movements
• Desegregation
• Education
• Education
• George Wallace
• Injustice
• Police
• Racial Discrimination
• Segregation
• Students
• West End High School

• Image Dimensions: 6 13/16 x 9 3/8 in. (17.3 x 23.81 cm) Measured by Hudson, Karen
• Sheet Dimensions: 8 1/16 x 10 in. (20.48 x 25.4 cm) Measured by Hudson, Karen