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Page A2
March I. 2006
Civil Rights Era Photos Discovered
Newspaper had kept scenes from public view
(A P ) — Dozens o f never be­
fore released photos from B ir­
mingham. Ala. during the C iv il
Rights era came to light this week­
end after an intern discovered
them buried in an equipm ent
closet at the Birm ingham News.
The photos had been in a box
marked: “ Keep. Do Not Sell.”
But at the time they were taken,
the newspaper d id n ’ t want to
draw attention to the racial dis­
cord o f the 1950s and 1960s,
news photographers from the
period said.
"The editors thought i f you
did n ’ t publish it, much o f this
would go away,” said Ed Jones,
8 1, a photographer at The News
from 1942 to 1987. “ Associated
Press kept on wanting pictures,
and The News would be slow on
letting them have them, so they
flooded the town w ith photogra­
phers.”
On Sunday, the photos fin a lly
went to print in a special eight-
page section called “ Unseen.
Unforgotten.” Others are on the
newspaper’ s Web site at http://
w w w .al.com /unseen.
Several photos v iv id ly show
the segregation in the South at
the time, including the disparity
among school buildings and the
d iffe re n t lines fo r blacks and
whites, even at the ja il as the Rev.
Ered Shuttlesw orth posts bail
after an arrest.
Others show confrontations:
a police o fficer shoving a dem­
onstrator, black children hit w ith
the spray o f a firehose, crowds
heckling demonstrators on their
knees Freedom Riders being ar­
rested, and w hite s th ro w in g
bricks at cars and blocking blacks
from entering "w hites-only” ar­
eas.
State U n iv e rs ity , was among
those photographed.
“ I was very, very thrilled to
see that we do have them.” she
said after learning about the newly
found photos. " I knew the p ic­
tures had to exist, but they were
being kept somewhere."
Robert Adams, 84, a photog­
rapher who joined the newspa­
per in 1940 and retired in 1985,
said The News d id n 't want to
inflame the situation.
1 I was very, very thrilled to see
that we do have them. / knew the
pictures had to exist, hut they
were being kept somewhere.
- Katherine Burks Brooks, former Freedom Rider
One photo shows a Ku K lux
In the N ew s’ centennial e d i­
Kian ra lly w ith men wearing tio n in 1988, the newspaper
hoods but their faces uncovered. said a New Y o rk Tim es story in
Others show National Guards­ 1960 forced the paper and the
men w ith their guns drawn, pro­ c ity ’ s w hite co m m un ity to con­
tecting a bus in one and rounding fro n t the racial c o n flic t: “ The
up rioters protesting a black story o f The B irm ingham N ew s’
student’ s enrollment at the U n i­ coverage o f race relations in
versity o f Mississippi.
the 1960s is one m arked at
Catherine Burks Brooks, 66, a tim es by mistakes and em bar­ The Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth (center) and Freedom Riders discuss what to do next after bus drivers
Birm ingham teacher who was rassment but, in its larger o ut­ at a Greyhound Terminal In Birmingham. Ala., refused to carry them any farther. The May 15,
part o f a group o f Freedom R id­ lines, by gro w in g sensitivity and 1961 photo was one o f many Civil Rights era photos never released to the public and discovered
in a closet at the Birmingham News.
ers w hile a student at Tennessee acceptance o f change.”
Gordly Hosts Town Hall
State lawmakers representing
northeast and southeast Port­
land w ill host a Town Hall meet­
ing Saturday, March 4 from 10
a.m. u ntil noon at the H o lly ­
wood Senior Center, 182ON.E.
40,h Ave.
Sen. Avel Gordly, Rep. Steve
March and Rep. Jackie Dingfelder
w ill attend the public session. The
focus is healthcare issues and
other constituent concerns.
Brilliant Master of Sci-Fi Dies
Writer explored race, politics
(A P )— Octavia E. Butler, con­
sidered the first black woman to
gain national prominence as a
o f science fictio n regardless o f
race or gender, she said.
"She is a world-class science
fiction w rite r in her own right,”
Jewell said. “ She was one o f the
first and one o f the best to dis­
cuss gender and race in science
fic tio n .”
science fictio n w riter, has died, a
close friend said Sunday. She
was 58.
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Butler fell and struck her head
on the cobbled walkw ay outside
her home near Seattle, said Leslie
Howie, a longtime friend and em­
ployee at the Science Fiction M u ­
seum and Hall o f Fame in Seattle.
The w riter, who suffered from
high blood pressure and heart
trouble and could only take a few
steps w ithout stopping fo r breath,
was found outside her home in
the north Seattle suburb o f Lake
Forest Park and died Friday,
H ow ie said.
Butler's w ork w asn't preoc­
cupied w ith robots and ray guns,
Howie said, but used the genre’ s
artistic freedom to explore race,
poverty, politics, religion and hu­
man nature.
“ She stands alone fo r what
she d id ," H ow ie said. “ She was
such a beacon and a light in that
w ay.”
Jane Jewell, executive direc­
tor o f the Science Fiction and
Fantasy W riters o f Am erica, said
Butler was one o f the first black
women to explore the genre and
the most prominent. But Butler
would have been a m ajor w riter
Butler began w ritin g at age 10,
and told Howie she embraced
science fic tio n after seeing a
schlocky B-m ovie called “ D evil
G irl from M ars” and thought, “ I
can w rite a better story than
that.” In 1970. she took a bus
from her hom etown o f Pasa­
dena, C alif., to attend a fantasy
writers workshop in East Lan­
sing, M ich.
Her first novel, “ Kindred,” in
1979, featured a black woman
who travels back in time to the
South to save a white man. She
went on to w rite about a dozen
books, plus numerous essays and
short stories. Her most recent
work, “ Fledgling," an examina­
tion o f the “ Dracula" legend, was
published last fall.
She received many awards,
and in 1995 Butler was the first
science fictio n w rite r granted a
“ genius” award from the John D.
and C atherine T. M a c A rth u r
F o u n d a tio n ,
w h ic h
p a id
$295,(MX) over five years.
Butler described herself as a
happy herm it, and never mar­
ried.
“ M ostly she just loved sitting
down and w riting," Seattle-based
science fiction w riter Greg Bear
said. "For being a black female
growing up in Los Angeles in the
'60s, she was attracted to science
fiction for the same reasons I was:
It liberated her. She had a far-
ranging imagination, and she was
a treasure in our comm unity."
Awards Honor City Cyclists
Portland bike fans w ill honor dinner, a live auction and the
theirow n at the A lice B. Toeclips awards presentation. The evem
Awards and Auction on Satur­ is a fundraiser to support the
day, M arch 4, at the Oregon advocacy and education w ork ol
Convention Center. The I l lh an­ the Bicycle Transportation A lli­
nual event recognizes individuals ance.
and com m unity groups that en­
The event's namesake is taken
courage and improve local trans­ from Alice BabetteToklas.acom-
portation conditions for cyclists. panion o f early 20"’ century w ritei
T riM e t's Caleb W inter, C ity Gertrude Stein, who found sal­
Commissioner Sam Adams and vation on her bicycle.
State Sen. G inny Burdick are a
Adm ission is $65 for adults
few o f the nominees this year.
and $25 fo r children under 12.
Doors open at 5 p.m. for com ­ Tickets can be purchased online
plimentary wine, hors-d’oeuvres atw ww .bta4bikes.org/alice/tick-
and silent auction, follow ed by ets or by calling 503-226-0676.
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