Approaches Boston Common: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. with Ralph Abernathy (right) and Reverend Virgil Wood, head of the Boston branch of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, as they lead a Civil Rights march down Charles Street toward Boston Common. King came to Boston to lead the demonstration protesting the condition of schools, jobs and housing.

Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist who became the most visible spokesperson and leader in the Civil Rights Movement from 1954 until his assassination in 1968.

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 the SCLC Presidency.

Associated Press ID #6504230100

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

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 Common
• Charles Street
• Civil Rights Movements
• Education
• Injustice
• Marches
• Marches
• Martin Luther King, Jr.
• Martin Luther King, Jr.
• Racial Discrimination
• Reverend Ralph Abernathy
• Reverend Ralph Abernathy
• Reverend Virgil Wood
• Reverend Virgil Wood
• Segregation
• Southern Christian Leadership Conference
• Street Scenes

• Image Dimensions: 5 1/2 x 7 1/2 in. (13.97 x 19.05 cm) Measured by Hudson, Karen
• Sheet Dimensions: 5 1/2 x 7 15/16 in. (13.97 x 20.16 cm) Measured by Hudson, Karen