Georgia State University Mounts Black History Month Photography Exhibit on Women in SNCC

The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) was one of the many Civil Rights organizations that helped initiate change in the 1960s. Dozens of laws and a host of social, educational, agricultural and economic advancement programs that exist today came about, in part, because of their work.

Individuals such as Congressman John Lewis, former NAACP chairman Julian Bond, 1990 MacArthur "Genius" awardee Maria Varela were all involved with SNCC during their youth. Also involved was a twenty-something year old school teacher named Doris Derby.

Derby became a founding member of the New York branch of the SNCC and, upon moving from the Bronx to the Mississippi Delta, became a co-founder of the Free Southern Theatre. Eventually, Derby took it as her mission document the era through the taking of a photographs. Dr. Derby's photographs show not just the luminaries of the day but also "ordinary people doing extraordinary things."


During the month of February, "Reflections of Women Writers in SNCC" a three-part collection of Dr. Derby's photographs, will be on view in the Georgia State University Student Center Gallery. Click on the video below to her Dr. Derby speak about the exhibit:



Derby's images help convey a more holistic view of the '60s in that they depict humble aspects of the Civil Rights movement that could easily be overshadowed by the grand political stances which people now associate with the era. While Derby was involved with sit-ins and freedom rides, she also took care to document things like community arts groups, health clinics, organic food co-ops, youth and adult literacy programs that were formed in rural, Southern communites (often by the residents themselves, often by women) to address the communities' challenges.

Images such as those in "Reflections of Women Writers in SNCC" help bring history to life. When viewing photographs like these, viewers see faces reminiscent of relatives, friends, neighbors, co-workers and even themselves "in full light," as Derby has said. The images allow the viewer to look deeply into how the small gestures of everyday people-- when viewed collectively-- created a monumental moment in U.S. and world history.