"Unseen. Unforgotten." Newly released civil rights photos

[Rose Siding]

Birmingham News publishes newly found civil rights era photos

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) -- Dozens of never before released photos from the civil rights era came to light this weekend after an intern discovered them buried in an equipment closet at the Birmingham News.

The photos had been in a box marked: "Keep. Do Not Sell.'' But at the time they were taken, the newspaper didn't want to draw attention to the racial discord of the 1950s and 1960s, news photographers from the period said.

"The editors thought if you didn't publish it, much of this would go away,'' said Ed Jones, 81, 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 with photographers.''

On Sunday, the photos finally went to print in a special eight-page section called "Unseen. Unforgotten.'' Others are on the newspaper's Web site at www.al.com/unseen .

http://wvgazette.com/section/APNews/News/ap0485n

[Warpy]

1. I remember some of those photos

They may not have been published in Alabama, but a few of them saw the light in Life Magazine and in the Charlotte Observer.

Nothing was more threatening to the south in those days than a bunch of black people talking politics and realizing that they had rights.

[Wickerman]

2. some ugly photos there

thanks for posting. A reminder why some still hate the Confederate with so much voracity.