Renowned Civil Rights Era Photographer Matt Herron Showcases Work In San Francisco
SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX 5) -- Matt Herron, a San Rafael photographer recognized for his iconic pictures of Southern civil rights protests, hosted a showing of his work in San Francisco on Sunday afternoon. He reflected on the mood of the nation in the mid 1960s and the state of the union today.
He stood before an audience at the San Francisco Library as an award winning press photographer. But in 1965, Herron was young and idealistic and moved his family to Mississippi to cover a battle brewing over civil rights. He admits he wasn't exactly an objective journalist.
"I don't think you can leave your convictions at home," he said. "On the other hand, you don't need to cram them down people's throats."
So Herron let his pictures speak for themselves. African Americans were frequently barred from voting, so when marchers began traveling from Selma, Alabama to the capital in Birmingham, tensions were running high and Herron said he learned to live with fear.
"I would strap cameras on my body like armor-plate and once that happened I was a different person," he said. "I knew that I was photographing history. I knew that I had the chance to say something important and I was willing to take the chances to do that."
Herron's images captured the determination of the freedom marchers and the anger of the white citizenry who considered them and the media to be "outsiders."
He won a World Press Photographers Award for a photograph of a policeman tearing an American flag away from a five-year-old boy. Shala Jones traveled from Albany to view the photo exhibit. She wasn't alive when the pictures were taken but says they make history feel real to her. And she can't help but make some comparisons to the current day.
"I look at the unity in the marching and I look at now, with Trump and the present era that we're in, and I think, where is that unity?" she said. "Where is that sense of purpose and togetherness? We're all distracted."
But not all the photos are about conflict. Herron also captured moments of victory when people were able to register and vote for the first time. And though he experienced the struggle and is happy with what progress has been made, he also has mixed feelings about where the country is heading.
"I see kids who are kind of oblivious to race," he said. "You know, you watch groups of kids on the streets and they're very mixed. And I think, long term I feel quite optimistic about the country. Short term, I'm not at all sure."
At age 88, Herron still takes pictures and works with photographers, but he considers the civil rights era to be the "golden age" of news photography. He says by the end of the 1960s, major photo publications like Look and Life magazines were already beginning to fail.
Still, he's grateful for his chance to experience an important part of history--a turbulent chapter that is still being written to this day.
Herron's photo exhibit, entitled "I'm Walkin' for My Freedom," is on display at the gallery in the basement level of San Francisco's Main Library.
