Effects of Imagery on Social Movements Research (Essay Sample)

Name:
Professor
Class
Date of Submission
Effects of iconic photos on LGBT and civil rights movements
Photography plays a critical role in championing LGBT and civil rights. Imagery aids in revealing the brutalities that occurs in the society. Therefore, iconic photos are of essence to numerous LGBT and civil rights movements. In 1963, international and national audiences woke up each morning to images of confrontation, resistance and violence, splashed across most front pages of multiple newspapers (Adam 135). For example, in the United States the white and black photographs were captured daily through the Washington post and New York Times. The photos depicted the police officers in Alabama, Birmingham, using trained police dogs as well as high-powered hoses to frustrate the non-violent black protesters. Imagery has been at the center stage in publicly acknowledging violence, terror and inequities that occurs in the society.
Moreover, imagery exposes the dehumanizing acts done against women and children thus enabling the law enforcing institutions to dig into the matter and take appropriate actions. For instance, the progressive images portraying numerous men, children and women who took part in project C in southern part of the United States assisted the civil rights movements to realize dehumanization that people were going through prompting such movements to advocate for justice (Elliott 12). Similarly, the utilization of imagery visually and vividly challenged the social and economic regime of power. Visual objects and materials communicates effectively and efficiently.
Imagery enables historians to learn more about civil rights movements. For instance, the compelling and iconic pictures of struggles from Arkansas, Alabama, Little Rock, Birmingham among other areas opens a new world to multiple historians. Reading the stories and images about campaigns in Chicago, Milwaukee, Seattle, Detroit and beyond enables the learner to understand more pertaining to civil rights movements. Ideally, many iconic civil rights images emphasized on the Southern struggle. The pictures portrayed how protesters were brutally repressed, they were subjected to racist violence as indicated in numerous books (Keck 16). Similarly, imagery reveals legislative achievements as well as charismatic political actors, and male leaders who advocated for civil rights; they organized demonstrations to agitate for equality. The process of whittling down and editing such images were complex and painful to photographers.
During photography, celebrities such as Harry Belafonte or Marlon Brando attracted attention of the press to marches, campaigns, and rallies. The utilization of media and cameras in civil rights movements made activists to feel more protected when airing their grievances (Schultz 36). However, the law enforcing agencies expected the use cameras to act as a means of intimidation and surveillance to the activists. Law enforcing agencies and departments both federally and locally assembled archives of files and photography that contained images of Black Power as well as civil rights groups and local activists.
Live footage and static visual images have continued to play a vital role in advancing numerous struggles for justice and rights (Tilly 10). Ideally, imagery recorded on cameras have revealed visible police misconduct and violence that could ...