Through Their Lens: Photographing Freedom Summer

Miami University: Richard and Carole Cocks Art Museum

August 27, 2024–December 14, 2024

Most exhibitions, books, and other projects produced about the historic 1964 Mississippi Summer Project, more commonly known as Freedom Summer, have centered on the history of the training sessions and voter registration efforts in the deep South. Exhibitions on the subject typically feature photographs as supporting materials which provide a visual narrative. Through Their Lens: Photographing Freedom Summer takes a new approach by flipping the focus and allowing those behind the lens to tell their own backstories. The exhibition presents the most important photographers who documented the historic project, including Danny Lyon, Ted Polumbaum, Herbert Randall , Steve Schapiro, and Tamio Wakayama.

While numerous photographers focused on Freedom Summer in various deep South locations, Through Their Lens spotlights those who were in Oxford, Ohio, and carried on activities in Mississippi. Volunteers and photographers came to the Western College for Women in Oxford to train for Freedom Summer before traveling to the deep South. It is on these grounds that the Richard and Carole Cocks Art Museum stands, creating a deeply rooted connection between where the photographs were taken and where they are now presented. Many of the images presented are from Mississippi, the ground zero for the real work of Freedom Summer, during which photographers captured some of the most important images that represent the successes and tragedies of the Civil Rights Movement.

Artists: Danny Lyon, Ted Polumbaum, Herbert Randall, Steve Schapiro, Tamio Wakayama

Historical Photography Family Friendly

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Steve Schapiro, Woman and Flag, 1963. Silver gelatin print, 20 x 16 inches. Courtesy of the artist and Richard and Carole Cocks Art Museum. Purchased with contributions from the Kezur Endowment Fund
Ted Polumbaum, Volunteers Singing Before Boarding Bus to Mississippi, 1964. Black and white photograph. Courtesy of the artist and Newseum Collection
Herbert Randall, Cordell Hull Reagon Leading Nonviolence Training, 1964 (printed 2024). Gelatin silver print. On loan from Special Collections, University of Southern Mississippi.