A Photographer's Notebook

Moving along.

You’ve seen the first picture I ever made (seen in my initial “stack”). Seven years later, in 1963, I was the freelancer picked by the United States Information Agency to be the official photographer for the March on Washington. At first no one (including me) knew how great or how large it would be, but it was expected to be a gathering of some importance.

USIA promised that if I gave them the film afterwards, they would double my day rate. I said, “Sure,” not really understanding that meant that they would own the rights to the photographs. I asked about the credit line. “Oh, you’ll always get the credit,” said the little old ladies who were the editors there assured me.

I went to work early, photographed everything I could, and ended late, with dozens of rolls of exposed Tri X. More than a gathering of some importance, it was an historic moment in this country’s history. It was perhaps the largest gathering ever held at that time in Washington. It was the time that Martin Luther King gave his “I have a dream” speech. Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Peter Paul and Mary, Odetta, Marian Anderson and Mahalia Jackson were among the singers that day. I wanted to show everything that happened, and I worked hard to show it all: the immense crowds, the principal speakers, views from the top of the Lincoln Memorial, the movie stars, and of course, faces in the crowd. Here is one of them:

I though this young woman, who was listening to Dr. King’s great speech, was so beautiful, and so serious about the importance of the day, was worth a couple of frames; more than I gave Paul Newman or any of the other movie people. In fact hardly anyone got more than one.

Well, it turned out that this picture had a life. The photos I had made had been transferred to the National Archives after USIA was disbanded sometime in the 70’s. That meant all the archived pictures had become public domain, and anyone could use them for free. This picture was used in a calendar and elsewhere. Towards the time the fiftieth anniversary of the March was to happen, the British media was intensely interested and wondered who this attractive person was. They planned to find out. The BBC found her somehow, and called me to announce they were inviting her and me as guests at the anniversary. They wanted us to meet and discuss on British TV what the March meant to us after fifty years.

When we finally did meet, outside the location where we were to be interviewed, it seemed we already knew who the other was. We became instant friends and have been ever since. Her newly found notoriety catapulted her, and this image of her, to be the posterchild for the March, and has remained so. It has been on flags and busses and buildings all over DC. Even the National Park Guides wanted to have their picture made with her.

When Judge Jones and his wife Christine did the book of my work, we wondered what would be the cover. This picture of my friend Edith Lee Payne was the easy choice. Edith was at the March on her 12th birthday, a present from her mom who was a civil rights leader. Still living in Detroit, she dotes upon her children and grandchildren, and has kept alive the promises made by Dr. King as well any anyone who was there that magnificent day.