Poor People's March Leader Applauded: The Reverend Ralph David Abernathy is applauded after addressing a rally on Boston Common, the climax of a march from the predominately-black Roxbury area. Abernathy told the gathering "we are tired of the white man picking our leaders for us". The march was part of the northeast leg of the Poor People's March on Washington.

Ralph Abernathy (1926-1990) was a Baptist minister who, with Martin Luther King, Jr., organized the historic Montgomery Bus Boycotts. Abernathy co-founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and was a major Civil Rights figure, serving as close adviser to King and later assuming SCLC Presidency.

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

• Boston
• Boston Common
• Civil Rights Movements
• Injustice
• Poor People's Campaign
• Poor People's Campaign
• Poor People's March on Washington
• Poverty
• Racial Discrimination
• Rallies
• Reverend Ralph Abernathy
• Reverend Ralph Abernathy
• Southern Christian Leadership Conference
• Speeches

• Image Dimensions: 6 15/16 x 9 5/8 in. (17.62 x 24.45 cm) Measured by Hudson, Karen
• Sheet Dimensions: 7 15/16 x 9 7/8 in. (20.16 x 25.08 cm) Measured by Hudson, Karen