Bearing Witness: Civil Rights Photographs of Alexander Rivera

“I had no idea that I was involved in the making of history,” says nationally renowned photojournalist Alexander M. Rivera Jr., 94, of Durham. “To me, it was just another day on the job.”

He not only made history — he helped change it. Rivera’s dynamic images and impassioned articles revealed truths about the Civil Rights movement that mainstream media often ignored. The award-winning photojournalist kept his lens and pen focused on the South’s African American communities during the turbulent struggle for racial equality from the 1940s to 1960s.

While working for the Pittsburgh Courier, Rivera photographed African Americans voting in the Democratic primary in Columbia, S.C., on April 20, 1948, the first time since 1876. Photo by Alexander M. Rivera Jr., courtesy of N.C. Central University.

Opening Friday, Jan. 25, at the N.C. Museum of History, the exhibit Bearing Witness: Civil Rights Photographs of Alexander Rivera brings together 52 images and articles from his career with some of the nation’s leading black newspapers: the Pittsburgh Courier, the Journal and Guide (Norfolk, Va.), and the Washington Tribune (Washington, D.C.). From pivotal moments in civil rights history to events in everyday life, the exhibit illustrates how Rivera’s work brought national attention to African Americans, including North Carolinians. Bearing Witness will run through March 1, 2009, in Raleigh. Admission is free.

The photojournalist’s coverage ranged from the aftermaths of lynchings to “firsts” for black students, entertainers, athletes and others. Coincidentally, while reporting on others breaking racial barriers, Rivera was breaking new ground himself.

“Rivera’s dual roles as a news reporter and photographer positioned him to become a pioneer among African American journalists,” says Shirl Spicer, curator of community history at the N.C. Museum of History. “His work chronicled the lives of African Americans in North Carolina, while he also helped establish the voice of black journalists as a vital component of the Civil Rights movement.”

Rivera kept North Carolinians in the headlines. As southeastern correspondent at the Pittsburgh Courier, for example, he followed the efforts of five African American students to integrate the UNC-Chapel Hill Law School. His articles brought support for them, and in 1951, the first blacks, Harvey Beech and Kenneth Lee, gained admission.

In 1951 Harvey Beech and Kenneth Lee were the first black students to gain admission to the UNC-Chapel Hill Law School. Photo by Alexander M. Rivera Jr., courtesy of N.C. Central University.

Nationally, the U.S. Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas in 1954 changed history. After the landmark decision ended the legal segregation of schools, Rivera and Robert M. Ratcliffe, Pittsburgh Courier news editor, initiated the series “The South Speaks” to chronicle the political climate and public reactions across the South. In 1955 they received a Global News Syndicate Award for their coverage of the Brown decision and its impact on desegregation in public schools throughout the South.

Born in Greensboro in 1913, Rivera graduated from N.C. College for Negroes (now N.C. Central University) in 1941. Throughout his career, he regularly featured stories of his alma mater and Durham’s African American commercial district known as “Black Wall Street.”

A mother and child on a segregated bus in Alabama in 1955. Photo by Alexander M. Rivera Jr., courtesy of N.C. Central University.

Visitors to Bearing Witness will see images of state and national events, well-known individuals and everyday citizens. A sampling from the exhibit follows.

• Nine-year-old Arthur Ashe attending a Durham tennis camp in 1952. He became the first black male to win the Wimbledon championship in 1975.
  
• A mother and child on a segregated bus in Alabama in 1955.
  
• New York congressman and pre-eminent civil rights leader Adam Clayton Powell Jr. with Dr. James E. Shepard, founder of N.C. College for Negroes.
  
• Vice President Richard M. Nixon in Ghana, West Africa, in 1957, attending ceremonies marking the country’s independence.
  
• The Fultz quadruplets, born in 1946 in Reidsville, who gained international fame as the “world’s only identical quadruplets.”
  
• Students on the campus of N.C. Central University during a 1965 Malcolm X rally.
  
• African Americans voting in a Democratic primary in Columbia, S.C., in 1948 for the first time since 1876.
  

After his newspaper career, Rivera returned to N.C. Central University, where he served as public relations director from 1974 until his 1993 retirement. Visit Bearing Witness, and see why he became one of North Carolina’s most respected journalists.

For more information about the museum, call 919-807-7900.

(Back to Press Releases)