Mugshot Book of Civil Rights "Subversives

by [Civil Rights]

$18,000 · Offered by Biblio

1962. Photo album; silver prints (66). Photo album; silver prints (66); Each approximately 4 x 5 inches, a few slightly larger or smaller; Most with typed subject ID and other personal info verso; With typed, partial subject index. The power of a vernacular photograph is often found in the tension between the intent of its creation and, with time and distance, the experience of viewing it. There is perhaps no clearer example of this than the mugshot. What is created to surveil, profile, categorize, or otherwise dehumanize the subject can easily transform into an iconic, instantly readable picture of defiance. The present mugbook, a compendium of both nationally-known and local "subversives" active in the Shreveport area in the early to mid 1960s, was presumably compiled by someone in law enforcement. Though it was put together for one purpose, it now exists as something else entirely - a profoundly compelling primary object and a powerful photographic record of resistance and strength at the height of the civil rights movement. The front cover bears an affixed caption which reads "Subversive Groups / Members of / Mug File C.I.D." and the album begins with a page showing four major Civil Rights figures: Martin Luther King Jr., NAACP president Roy Wilkins, author and editor Hunter Pitts "Jack" O'Dell, and C.O.R.E. co-founder James Farmer. Also included on this page is Reverend Harold Bethune. King and Wilkins' photos are not actually arraignment photos, but apparently included

• Year: 1962
• Binding: unknown

Found via Rare Books Intel, a search across rare-book dealers, auction houses and marketplaces worldwide.