In gearing up for our fascinating Martin Luther King, Jr. program on January 14, I caught up with author Eric Etheridge, who wrote and did the photographs for Breach of Peace: Portraits of the 1961 Freedom Riders. It's a fantastic book and it will be an even better program because Eric will be joined by three Freedom Riders and a musical celebration featuring Neshama Carlebach and the Green Pastures Baptist Gospel Choir.
Betsy A: What inspired you to write this book?
Eric E: I was looking for photographic project involving historical images. As a native Mississippian I was aware of the Sovereignty Commission, the state spy/investigative agency that had been created in the late 1950s to preserve segregation, and I knew that, after a long court fight, its files had been released to the public in the late 1998. One day I happened to think of looking in those files for photographs I could work with. There I found the complete set of mug shots of every Freedom Rider arrested in Jackson in 1961.As portraits, the mug shots are always compelling and frequently stellar. The police camera caught something special, even if no one quite intended it that way. I was captivated by these images and wanted to bring them to a wider audience. I wanted to find the Riders today, to look into their faces, to make new portraits to set against the earlier portraits.
BA: Tell us about one of the most memorable interviews you did for your book, Breach of Peace?
I hate cop-out answers like the one I am about to give, but really, all the 100-plus interviews I've done so far are memorable to me. Gathering the stories of how each Rider ended up in Jackson in the spring and summer of 1961 ended up being a mosaic portrait of the country at mid-century. I was fascinated by their family histories, of their first encounters with politics, of their motivations to join the Rides, sometimes because of what they had been taught at home, other times in spite of.
BA: What do you hope readers will take away from your book?
EE: The power of ordinary individuals, acting alone and in concert, to help bring about profound change.
BA: Have you talked to any of the Freedom Riders about the presidential election? Do the ones that you have spoken to feel that their work is done?
EE: The Freedom Riders I've spoken with since the election are all overwhelmed by Obama's victory, stunned almost that a black man has finally been elected president. But at the same time they are also remembering what it has cost to get this far, the violence that has been endured, the blood shed, the people killed.But don't take my word for it. On the Breach of Peace web site I've been publishing a series of posts by Riders in response the election. Read their remarks here: http://breachofpeace.com/blog/?cat=36
BA: For people interested in learning more about the Civil Rights Movement, can you recommend any other things to read or watch?
EE: About the Freedom Riders directly, Ray Arsenault's narrative history, Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice, is a through and compelling study. David Halberstam's The Children focuses especially on the Nashville Student Movement, which played a crucial role in the Freedom Rides as well as in the formation of SNCC (the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee). So many leaders came out of Nashville, including John Lewis, Diane Nash, C. T. Vivian, James Bevel, Bernard Lafayette. It's a remarkable story. For overall history: Taylor Branch's trilogy (Parting the Waters, Pillar of Fire, At Canaan's Edge). You can also read history by those who made it: John Lewis: Walking with the Wind, Stokley Carmichael, who was, among other things, a Freedom Rider: Ready for the Revolution James Farmer, who as the head of CORE (Congress of Racial Equality) created the Freedom Rides: Lay Bare the Heart.
Betsy A: What inspired you to write this book?
Eric E: I was looking for photographic project involving historical images. As a native Mississippian I was aware of the Sovereignty Commission, the state spy/investigative agency that had been created in the late 1950s to preserve segregation, and I knew that, after a long court fight, its files had been released to the public in the late 1998. One day I happened to think of looking in those files for photographs I could work with. There I found the complete set of mug shots of every Freedom Rider arrested in Jackson in 1961.As portraits, the mug shots are always compelling and frequently stellar. The police camera caught something special, even if no one quite intended it that way. I was captivated by these images and wanted to bring them to a wider audience. I wanted to find the Riders today, to look into their faces, to make new portraits to set against the earlier portraits.
BA: Tell us about one of the most memorable interviews you did for your book, Breach of Peace?
I hate cop-out answers like the one I am about to give, but really, all the 100-plus interviews I've done so far are memorable to me. Gathering the stories of how each Rider ended up in Jackson in the spring and summer of 1961 ended up being a mosaic portrait of the country at mid-century. I was fascinated by their family histories, of their first encounters with politics, of their motivations to join the Rides, sometimes because of what they had been taught at home, other times in spite of.
BA: What do you hope readers will take away from your book?
EE: The power of ordinary individuals, acting alone and in concert, to help bring about profound change.
BA: Have you talked to any of the Freedom Riders about the presidential election? Do the ones that you have spoken to feel that their work is done?
EE: The Freedom Riders I've spoken with since the election are all overwhelmed by Obama's victory, stunned almost that a black man has finally been elected president. But at the same time they are also remembering what it has cost to get this far, the violence that has been endured, the blood shed, the people killed.But don't take my word for it. On the Breach of Peace web site I've been publishing a series of posts by Riders in response the election. Read their remarks here: http://breachofpeace.com/blog/?cat=36
BA: For people interested in learning more about the Civil Rights Movement, can you recommend any other things to read or watch?
EE: About the Freedom Riders directly, Ray Arsenault's narrative history, Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice, is a through and compelling study. David Halberstam's The Children focuses especially on the Nashville Student Movement, which played a crucial role in the Freedom Rides as well as in the formation of SNCC (the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee). So many leaders came out of Nashville, including John Lewis, Diane Nash, C. T. Vivian, James Bevel, Bernard Lafayette. It's a remarkable story. For overall history: Taylor Branch's trilogy (Parting the Waters, Pillar of Fire, At Canaan's Edge). You can also read history by those who made it: John Lewis: Walking with the Wind, Stokley Carmichael, who was, among other things, a Freedom Rider: Ready for the Revolution James Farmer, who as the head of CORE (Congress of Racial Equality) created the Freedom Rides: Lay Bare the Heart.
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