Bearing Witness: Civil Rights Photographs of Alexander Rivera

Nationally renowned photojournalist Alexander M. Rivera Jr. revealed aspects of the Civil Rights movement that mainstream newspapers did not cover. The Greensboro native often witnessed pivotal moments in civil rights history while working for some of the country’s leading black newspapers: the Journal and Guide (Norfolk, Va.), the Pittsburgh Courier, and the Washington Tribune (Washington, D.C.).

Rivera’s dynamic images of African American communities during these tumultuous years are captured in the upcoming exhibit Bearing Witness: Civil Rights Photographs of Alexander Rivera, on view from Jan. 25, 2008, to March 1, 2009. See his compelling images, and learn how Rivera’s dual role as a reporter and a photographer positioned him to become one of the era’s important civil rights activists.

Born in 1913 during the height of the Jim Crow era, Rivera is the eldest of three children of Greensboro dentist and civil rights activist Dr. Alexander M. Rivera Sr. and his wife, Daisy Irene Dillard Rivera. The photojournalist grew up immersed in civil rights activism, since his father was a zealous NAACP member and traveling national NAACP leaders, such as Walter White, William Pickens and James Weldon Johnson, frequently stayed in their home.

Rivera achieved national attention for his cutting-edge reporting style. In 1957, while serving as the Southeast’s correspondent for the Pittsburgh Courier, Rivera was invited by then Vice-President Richard M. Nixon to join his press team for a historic trip to Ghana, West Africa.

A respected journalist, Rivera organized the first news bureau for the N.C. College for Negroes (later N.C. Central University) in 1939 and served as public relations director of NCCU from 1974 to 1993. He was one of the first African American reporters to regularly participate in North Carolina governors’ press conferences.

In 1993 Gov. James B. Hunt Jr. recognized Rivera’s lifelong contributions to the state and nation by awarding him the Order of the Longleaf Pine. Rivera currently resides in Durham.

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