September 20th, 2010
Alabama Chapter: Time to Cast a Positive Light on Civil Rights Era Photojournalism
By George Daniels
TUSCALOOSA, Ala– Less than a month after a late civil rights photojournalist’s double life as an FBI informant was revealed, the University of Alabama SPJ chapter is re-directing the attention to the positive images that changed the course of history.
Flip Schulke in a photo taken by Larry Spruill
This Thursday, the work of civil rights photojournalism Flip Schulke will take centerstage at a screening of the award-winning documentary, Stills of the Movement. Schulke, who died in 2008, did more than photograph Martin Luther King, Jr. and Medgar Evers.
He is credited with pioneering underwater photography, often accompany Jacques Costeau on expeditions.
Thursday’s 7:30 p.m. screening at the University’s Ferguson Student Center will feature Morehouse College history professor and Accomplished Photographer Larry Spruill, who knew Schulke and Rider University Communications Professor Shawn Kildea, who was one of the producers of the documentary “Stills of the Movement.”
This week’s event falls less than two weeks after a (Memphis) Commercial Appeal investigation revealed Photographer Ernest Withers doubled as FBI informant to spy on the civil rights movement.