Exhibition at Selma Times Journal Building
1018 Water Ave, Selma, AL 36701
James “Spider” Martin (1939-2003), photojournalist at The Birmingham News, documented one of the most crucial moments in American civil rights history. In February 1965, he was sent to Marion, Alabama to cover the death of Jimmie Lee Jackson, a young African-American shot by a state trooper while protecting his mother and grandfather. This murder triggered the first Selma to Montgomery march, which ended in the violence of “Bloody Sunday.”
Spider’s images of Bloody Sunday, broadcast on national television, forced The Birmingham News to publish his photos on the front page, finally moving “Negro protest” news from the back to the front of the paper.
Despite segregationist editors’ desire to end coverage, Spider won the right to stay and documented events day by day until the final successful march on March 25, 1965, where 25,000 protesters converged on the Alabama State Capitol. He faced death threats and beatings to capture the most iconic images of a movement that would transform the region and the nation. His photographs were published in Time, Life, Der Spiegel, Paris Match and other international publications.
After studying art, Spider discovered photography by accident and became the youngest photographer at The Birmingham News. His archive contains nearly 3,000 black and white negatives from this period, most of which have never been publicly exhibited due to their controversial nature.
“In Spider Martin’s hands, a camera is a weapon of discovery,
revealing truths long concealed by prejudice and mythology.”
— Andrew Young 1992
website: spidermartin.com