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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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