“A Fire That No Water Could Put Out:" Civil Rights Photography at the High Museum

Taking its title from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s final speech before his assassination in 1968, “A Fire That No Water Could Put Out” reflects on the fiftieth anniversary of this tumultuous year in American history. Following his death in Memphis, Dr. King’s enormous funeral procession through Atlanta took over the city’s streets with thousands of heartbroken Americans who gathered to celebrate his life and legacy. While his assassination is often described as the closing bookend on the civil rights movement, activism across the intervening fifty years has proven that the movement for racial equality and justice in the United States is not a finished story.
Through some of the most powerful images from the High’s significant collection of civil rights photography, this installation underscores how photography can chronicle and even shape history. Historical works, including several recent acquisitions, are juxtaposed with contemporary photographs that speak to the past’s reverberations into the present and future. The installation is arranged into three sections: the era of Dr. King’s leadership, the year of his death, and contemporary reflections on the civil rights movement’s enduring legacy. These artworks demonstrate the wide range of artistic responses to the movement, from photojournalism to conceptualism, from tender portraits to charged landscapes.