Lee Friedlander

On May 17, 1957, Lee Friedlander was given full access to photograph the participants of the Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom in Washington, DC. This extraordinary event brought together many of the great thinkers and leaders of the civil rights movement and galvanized Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s position as its preeminent leader. The 58 previously unpublished photographs reproduced as duotones in this important and beautifully produced commemorative record are among Friedlander's earliest work. With his full access to the presenters' stage, Friedlander was able to portray the famous individuals at the event - Mahalia Jackson, A. Philip Randolph, Harry Belafonte, Ruby Dee among many others - as well as the audience of some 25,000 men, women and children who gathered to give voice and energy to the ideas embattled by the movement. Timed with the three-year anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, the Prayer Pilgrimage placed pressure on the Eisenhower administration to uphold desegregation in the South and made voting rights a focal point of the struggle for equality. Also included in this publication is a facsimile typescript from The King Center of MLK's "Give Us the Ballot" speech and additional ephemera from the march, including the printed program and the "Call to Prayer" distributed to participants. The complete (and only existing) set of the 58 prints, acquired by Yale University Art Gallery will be on exhibition at YUAG and other venues in 2017 in commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the Prayer Pilgrimage.