Edited by Steven Kasher. Text by Jill Freedman, John Edwin Mason, Aaron Bryant.
The climax of Martin Luther King's Poor People's Campaign
Published in 1970, Jill Freedman’s Old News: Resurrection City documented the culmination of the Poor People’s Campaign of 1968, organized by Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and carried out under the leadership of Ralph Abernathy in the wake of Dr King’s assassination. Three thousand people set up camp for six weeks in a makeshift town that was dubbed Resurrection City, and participated in daily protests. Freedman lived in the encampment for its entire six weeks, photographing the residents, their daily lives, their protests and their eventual eviction.
This new 50th-anniversary edition of the book reprints most of the pictures from the original publication, with improved printing and a more vivid design. Alongside Freedman’s hard-hitting original text, two introductory essays are included, by John Edwin Mason, historian of African history and the history of photography at the University of Virginia, and by Aaron Bryant, Curator of Photography at the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
The photographs of Jill Freedman (born 1939) are held in the permanent collections of major art institutions including The Museum of Modern Art, New York; the International Center of Photography, New York; the New York Public Library; the Jewish Museum, New York; the George Eastman House, Rochester; the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC; and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. She has had solo exhibitions at numerous museums, including the International Center of Photography, New York; the Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago; and the George Eastman House. Seven monographs of her work have been published: Old News: Resurrection City (Grossman, 1970); Circus Days (Harmony, 1975); Firehouse (Doubleday, 1977); Street Cops (Harper & Row, 1982); A Time That Was: Irish Moments (Friendly Press, 1987); Jill’s Dogs (Pomegranate Art Books, 1993); and Ireland Ever (Harry Abrams, 2004). Freedman is represented by Steven Kasher Gallery.
Featured image is reproduced from 'Jill Freedman: Resurrection City, 1968."
PRAISE AND REVIEWS
New York Times
Maurice Berger
"These images depict solidarity among activists of all races. They reveal the dignity and courage of parents determined to provide their children with a better life."
Collector Daily
Anne Doran
"Freedman never represents her subjects as victims, instead contrasting Washington politicians’ indifference with the marcher’s quiet determination to be seen."
The New York Times
Holland Cotter
Her powerful documentary book first appeared in 1971; the current reissue includes many of the original photographs …all supplemented by Ms. Freedman’s street-wise annotations. The reissue is timely. Inequity is starker than ever.
Publisher's Weekly
Alison Green
This powerful work of documentary photography captures the momentum of the civil rights movement through one of its lesser known demonstrations....In black-and white photos, Freedman captures the mud and grime of the encampment. While there are signs of poverty throughout her photographs—an elderly woman wearing paper bags on her feet, a toothless man smiling at the camera—more striking is the sense of camaraderie among the residents, as seen in the photos of drum circles, kids wrestling with tire swings, groups of women sitting cross-legged on the lawn while singing and clapping their hands.
The Paris Review
If you forget about things like traffic lights and dress shops and cops, Resurrection City was pretty much just another city. Crowded. Hungry. Dirty. Gossipy. Beautiful. It was the world, squeezed between flimsy snow fences and stinking humanity. There were people there who’d give you the shirt off their backs, and others who’d kill you for yours. And every type in between. Just a city.
Vulture
Rebecca Bengal
her black-and-white prints are honest and stirring portraits of the ordinary people at the heart of this historic uprising.
PDN (Photo of the Day)
Her images and texts are frank and unromantic...but they show heroism and pride and defiance.
PDN's Notable Photo Books of 2018
It finds American society cosmetically altered, but fundamentally similar.
Kirkus
This 50th-anniversary edited edition of Freedman’s photographs is a master-piece.
Atlas Obscura
Matthew Taub
The images...portray the diversity of the protests’ participants and capture the events on scales both epic and intimate [...] In Mason’s view, Freedman’s position as a white photographer does not make the images feel insincere or voyeuristic. “She walked the walk,” he says. “She had quit her job, she was virtually penniless, [and] she was not getting paid for the photos” as she took them. He adds that her respect for the subjects also comes through clearly: They’re not “cardboard heroes” with limitless strength. Instead, we see the protesters tired and frustrated.
New York Times: Book Review
Jon Meacham
A series of images of the encampment of the dispossessed built on the Mall...
We are honored to have worked with photographer Jill Freedman, who not only documented but immersed herself in the lives of the disenfranchised. Featured image is reproduced from Resurrection City, 1968. "I knew I had to shoot the Poor People’s Campaign when they murdered Martin Luther King, Jr.," she wrote. "I had to see what was happening, to record it and be a part of it, I felt so bad. Besides, it sounded too good to miss.
So I went and had one of the times of my life, and this is my trip. And I never realized how much it had become a part of me until I was writing this and saying we and us and feeling homesick.
Which is what Resurrection City was all about.
Of course, it was old stuff from the start. Another nonviolent demonstration. Another march on Washington. Another army camping, calling on a government that acts like the telephone company.
Even poverty is ancient history. Always have been poor people, still are, always will be. Because governments are run by ambitious men of no imagination. Whose priorities are so twisted that they burn food while people starve. And we let them. So that history doesn’t change much but the names. Nothing protects the innocent. And no news is new." continue to blog
“They came to Washington in the spring of 1968, by the thousand, young and old, black and white, traveling in busses and cars and mule trains… Almost all of them were poor. Although Martin Luther King and the Southern Leadership Conference had summoned them to the nation’s capital, this movement belonged to them. This was the Poor People’s Campaign.” - John Edwin Mason, Jill Freedman: Resurrection City, 1968 continue to blog
“Now we are tired of being on the bottom. We are tired of being exploited. We are tired of not being able to get adequate jobs. We are tired of not getting promotions after we get those jobs. And as a result of our being tired, we are going to Washington, D.C., the seat of government, and engage in direct action for days and days, weeks and weeks, and months and months if necessary, in order to say to this nation that you must provide us with jobs or income.” —Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., from Jill Freedman: Resurrection City, 1968. continue to blog
FORMAT: Hbk, 9.75 x 12 in. / 176 pgs / 141 b&w. LIST PRICE: U.S. $45.00 LIST PRICE: CANADA $60 ISBN: 9788862085830 PUBLISHER: Damiani AVAILABLE: 3/27/2018 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: TRADE PUBLISHING STATUS: Out of print AVAILABILITY: Not available TERRITORY: NA LA
Published by Damiani. Edited by Steven Kasher. Text by Jill Freedman, John Edwin Mason, Aaron Bryant.
The climax of Martin Luther King's Poor People's Campaign
Published in 1970, Jill Freedman’s Old News: Resurrection City documented the culmination of the Poor People’s Campaign of 1968, organized by Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and carried out under the leadership of Ralph Abernathy in the wake of Dr King’s assassination. Three thousand people set up camp for six weeks in a makeshift town that was dubbed Resurrection City, and participated in daily protests. Freedman lived in the encampment for its entire six weeks, photographing the residents, their daily lives, their protests and their eventual eviction.
This new 50th-anniversary edition of the book reprints most of the pictures from the original publication, with improved printing and a more vivid design. Alongside Freedman’s hard-hitting original text, two introductory essays are included, by John Edwin Mason, historian of African history and the history of photography at the University of Virginia, and by Aaron Bryant, Curator of Photography at the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
The photographs of Jill Freedman (born 1939) are held in the permanent collections of major art institutions including The Museum of Modern Art, New York; the International Center of Photography, New York; the New York Public Library; the Jewish Museum, New York; the George Eastman House, Rochester; the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC; and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. She has had solo exhibitions at numerous museums, including the International Center of Photography, New York; the Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago; and the George Eastman House. Seven monographs of her work have been published: Old News: Resurrection City (Grossman, 1970); Circus Days (Harmony, 1975); Firehouse (Doubleday, 1977); Street Cops (Harper & Row, 1982); A Time That Was: Irish Moments (Friendly Press, 1987); Jill’s Dogs (Pomegranate Art Books, 1993); and Ireland Ever (Harry Abrams, 2004). Freedman is represented by Steven Kasher Gallery.
