The Mayor Has a Question: Fayette Mayor Charles Evers wears a puzzled expression as he questions a city matter presented by Alderman Fred Allen (left) during the new administration's first town council meeting. Listening at right is City Attorney Martha Wood, the only white employee hired for the black administration. Police Chief Robert Vanderson is standing in the left background.

Charles Evers (1922-2020) was an American Civil Rights activist and former Republican politician, known for his role in the Civil Rights Movement along with his younger brother, Medgar Evers. After his brother's assassination in 1963, Charles Evers took over his position as Field Director of the NAACP in Mississippi. He led many demonstrations for the rights of blacks. In 1969, Evers was named "Man of the Year" by the NAACP. In 1969, Evers was elected in Fayette, Mississippi as the first black mayor in the state in the post-Reconstruction era. This followed the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which enforced constitutional rights for citizens.

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:

• Broken barriers
• Charles Evers
• City Councils
• Civil Rights Movements
• Fayette
• Fred Allen
• Injustice
• Martha Wood
• Meetings
• Racial Discrimination
• Robert Vanderson

• Image Dimensions: 6 11/16 x 9 3/8 in. (16.99 x 23.81 cm) Measured by Hudson, Karen
• Sheet Dimensions: 8 1/8 x 10 in. (20.64 x 25.4 cm) Measured by Hudson, Karen