Installation Images

INTRODUCTION

Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (January 15, 1929-April 4, 1968) is revered for his nonviolent crusade to advance civil rights in America. His legacy is one of peaceful protests in the face of violent proponents of racism and Jim Crow - the divisive policy of racial segregation that plagued both northern and southern states. King however, was also an avid world traveler whose explorations helped him examine connections between global struggles for freedom and against systemic oppression. As such, King developed an extensive network of contacts in peace and social movements around the globe. 

King’s first international trip was to West Africa to attend Ghana’s independence ceremony in 1957 at the invitation of President Kwame Nkrumah. His trips to India and Norway, featured in this exhibition, represent an arc in his personal evolution and are bookended by the successful Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955-1956) and his condemnation of the Vietnam War (1967). 

Travel allows us to both explore new frontiers and reflect on our foundations, challenging our constructs of identity and ideology, and the way we understand the world. In this exhibition we see unguarded moments of a public figure strengthening his ideological commitments and sharing those times with travel companions that often included his wife Coretta Scott King, confidants Ralph Abernathy and Dorothy Cotton, and colleagues like biographer Lawrence Dunbar Reddick. 

Crusader presents an intimate photo travelogue of King’s month-long pilgrimage to India, his acceptance of the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway, accompanied by selected images of the civil rights movement by renowned photographers by renowned photographers Moneta Sleet, Jr., Austin Hansen, Robert Sengstacke, and Ben Fernandez.