SELMA IS NOW: The Photography of Spider Martin is Coming to AARLCC

Selma Is Now: The Photography of Spider Martin - a powerful exhibition featuring newly restored photographs documenting the 1965 Selma marches and the Edmund Pettus Bridge, drawn from the Spider Martin Photographic Archive at the Briscoe Center for American History, University of Texas, is coming to African American Research Library and Cultural Center.

The exhibition opens with a Cultural Conversation, "Selma: Legacy, Lens, and Liberation," examining the enduring impact of Spider Martin's images on democracy, justice, and civic responsibility.

The exhibition will be on view January 31 through June 27, 2026, with an opening Cultural Conversation taking place on January 31, 2026, from 3:30 to 5:00 PM at the African American Research Library and Cultural Center. The opening Cultural Conversation will feature speakers Doug McCraw, founder of FATVillage, and Chevara Orrin, an equity strategist and the daughter of civil rights activist James Bevel.

The exhibition invites reflection on the courage of the Selma marchers and the lasting legacy of the Voting Rights Act. Through Spider Martin's lens, visitors are confronted with both the moral urgency of the past and its relevance today.

"My decision to produce Selma Is Now is deeply rooted in my upbringing in Tuscaloosa, Alabama," said McCraw. "As I revisited this history, I was struck by how many of the same challenges persist today. The fight for voting rights, equality, and the freedoms promised by the Constitution remains unfinished. These images honor the bravery of those who stood in nonviolent defiance and remind us of our shared humanity-and the responsibility we all bear to protect democracy, then and now."

"Spider Martin's photographs are more than historical documents-they are moral witnesses," said historian and Library Regional Manager of the African American Research Library and Cultural Center, Dr. Tameka Bradley Hobbs. "Selma Is Now asks us to confront both the courage and the cost of fighting for democracy. These images remind us that ordinary people, united by conviction and community, can change the course of a nation."

"These images are not just historical-they are a mirror, a portal, and a call to conscience," said Chevara Orrin. "Spider Martin's photographs demand that we confront the raw truths of injustice and remember that the pursuit of equity is not a closed chapter-it is an urgent present."

ADMISSION:
Free and open to the public.
Registration is required for each event.