Faces of Freedom Summer

" Randall's stunning photographs bring Freedom Summer alive to a new generation of Americans. Tusa's Introduction sheds new light on the Civil Rights movement in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Together they have produced a work as inspirational as it is instructive." —John Dittmer

These rare photographs re-create the exhilaration and danger of Freedom Summer in 1964 Mississippi.

The old adage "One picture is worth ten thousand words" is definitely true for Faces of Freedom Summer. There are simply not enough words to describe the period in our history that is recorded by the pictures in this book.

As this book afirms, the resurgence of overt activities by hate groups--both the old traditional ones (e.g., the Ku Klux Klan) and the new ones (e.g., the Skin Heads)--however much the hard work and sacrifices of the modern civil rights movement humanized American society, much still remains to be done. The modern civil rights movement associated with the 1960s was not in vain, yet it did not eradicate from our society the evils of racism and sexism. While we activists made the United States more of an open society than it has ever been in its history, our vision and desire for the beloved community did not reach into all sectors of American society. "Freedom," it has been said, "is a constant struggle, a work of eternal vigilance."

Faces of Freedom Summer brings to life that there was such a time and there were such people and, if such a people were once, then they are still among us. Yet, they may only become aware of themselves when they are confronted with visible evidence, such as the evidence contained in the pictures of Herbert Randall.

Bobs M. Tusa is a retired university archivist from the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg.

Herbert Randall has exhibited photographs at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the International Center of Photography, and other noted museums.