Martin Luther King, Jr. Gallery
Trained to be a Protestant minister, Bob Fitch's career as a photojournalist began in 1965 when he joined the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s organization, The Southern Christian Leadership Conference, as a staff photographer. As Fitch notes, "I worked for two intense years as the volunteer photographer for Dr. King and the SCLC, crisscrossing "Black Belt" states to document his people-to-people speaking tours promoting get-out-the-vote campaigns"
Fitch's work with the SCLC in 1965 and 1966 produced powerful images of Dr. King's speaking and leadership, as well as of the courageous efforts of marchers in events such as the 1966 Meredith March Against Fear. [View gallery]
Cesar Chavez Gallery
Following the death of the Rev. Martin Luther in 1968, activist photographer Bob Fitch renewed his commitment to document nonviolent peace and social justice leaders and movements, traveling to Delano, California to photograph Cesar Chavez and members of the United Farm Workers union.
As this gallery richly illustrates, between 1968 and 1975, Fitch captured powerful images of Chavez and the UFW as they organized and demonstrated for better working conditions and wages. These actions, including the Modesto March of February, 1975, helped to bring about passage in May, 1975 of the California Agricultural Labor Relations Act (CALRA), a statute that established collective bargaining rights for farmworkers. [View gallery]