Mine Eyes Have Seen
Photographs by Bob Adelman

This exhibition features photographs that chronicle of one of the epic undertakings in American history, the struggle during the second half of the twentieth century for civil rights. It is a story about a nation fighting to make itself whole. Bob Adelman witnessed that fight and recorded it with his camera. This is his testament.

Growing up, Adelman knew that what was most un-American about America was its mistreatment of blacks. Stirred by the heroic students whose sit-ins were breaking the shackles of segregation, he felt called to join and lend his skills as a photographer to the cause. The Movement became his mission.

Adelman was there-, in Birmingham, in Selma, in Washington. He was by Martin Luther King Jr.'s side, at Malcolm X's speeches and funeral, in the trenches and in the marches. He was there, as well, in the Bed Stuy ghetto, on the streets of Newark during the riots, in Harlem schools, on Beale Street in Memphis, in the plantation fields and at the quilting bee in Gee's Bend, Alabama. He had a great calling and now looks back with this stirring exhibition and with a book of the same name book.

Mine Eyes Have Seen vividly shows what life was like, why change was needed and how change was effected, sometimes in the face of violence. Adelman's commentary and reminiscences further illuminate his stunning documentary photography and portraiture. In his essay for the book, National Book Award-winning novelist, Charles Johnson, explains why Adelmans photographs constitute a vital, definitive record of the quest for equality. "With compassion and courage —since taking photos in the Jim Crow South often put his own life at risk — Bob Adelman conjured the humanity, grace and dignity of his subjects," writes Johnson. "That quotidian humanity is everywhere evident in Mine Eyes Have Seen."

Through his eyes, the Civil Rights Movement is presented as a human story. To view these images is to be there. Bob Adelman's view was unique — and uniquely informed. His subjects knew which side he was on. And he stayed the course. He was there in the 1950s as the struggle was beginning and still present in 1998 when the last of these photographs was taken, Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama shaking hands with Prince Arnold, the black sheriff of Wilcox County. Some of these iconic images seem like small miracles. Mine Eyes Have Seen is Adelman's testament to a time, a people and a cause that he believed in and believes in still.

The exhibition includes 75 framed photographs plus text panels and labels. Mr Adelman is available to lecture. The book is available for sale as a catalog.

A photographer and social activist known for his historic coverage of the Civil Rights Movement, Bob Adelman has also worked in efforts to alleviate poverty, reform education, expand civil liberties and document the arts. The interna­tionally recognized photojournalist has covered social and political issues for LIFE, The New York Times Magazine, London's Sunday Times Magazine, Newsweek, TIME, Esquire, Vanity Fair, Paris Match and numerous other publications. He is a Guggenheim Fellow and a National Endowment for the Arts grantee. His photographs are in the collections of major museums. He has published a number of photographic books, including Down Home, detailing the impact of social change on a Faulknerian town; Street Smart, documenting children's inventive play,- The Next America (with Michael Harrington), offering social idealists' views of the United States; Visions of Liberty (with Ira Glasser), celebrating the Bill of Rights; and King: The Photobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr. (with Charles Johnson) telling King's life story in photographs.

MAGAZINES: Photographs for Cover Stories  ESQUIRE, TIME, PEOPLE, LIFE, NEW YORK,  HARPER'S, NEWSWEEK, NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE, FORTUNE, AMERICAN HERITAGE, THE LONDON TIMES MAGAZINE, STERN, LOOK, PARIS MATCH, USIA.

PORTFOLIOS: CAMERA, POPULAR PHOTOGRAPHY, ANNUAL PHOTO.

BOOKS PHOTOGRAPHED AND PRODUCED: DOWN HOME; ON AND OFF THE STREET; STREET SMART; GENTLEMAN OF LEISURE; LADIES OF THE NIGHT; OUT OF LEFT FIELD all with Susan Hall; THE NEXT AMERICA with Michael Harrington; THE REAGAN REPORT; IT GROWS ON YOU, A Hair Raising Survey Of Human Plumage with Roy Blount Jr; THE ART OF ROY LICHTENSTEIN essay by Calvin Tompkins, photographs and  interview by Bob Adelman; CARVER COUNTRY: The World of Raymond Carver  introduction by Tess Gallagher; VISIONS OF LIBERTY, The Bill of Rights For All Americans by Ira Glasser, photographs by Bob Adelman; KING: The Photobiography of Martin Luther King Jr. by  Charles Johnson and Bob Adelman. New York Times Book Company: developed and photographed the Sidewalk reading program; Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Random House, Dell Publishing: preparation of educational materials.

BOOKS PRODUCED: POLLOCK PAINTING Photographs by Hans Namuth; BRUCE DAVIDSON PHOTOGRAPHS; BRANCUSI PHOTOGRAPHS; SCULPTOR'S DRAWINGS; ARSENAL OF DEMOCRACY; SOVIET MILITARY POWER: The Annotated and Corrected Version of the Pentagon's Guide both by Tom Gervasi; THE FILM ENCYCLOPEDIA by Ephriam Katz; PICTURES UNDER DISCUSSION, LIFE CLASSIC PHOTOGRAPHS, LIFE FACES, CELEBRATING THE NEGATIVE, and LIFE PHOTOGRAPHERS: WHAT THEY SAW, all by John Loengard; BORN TO RUN THINGS: An Utterly Unauthorized Biography of George Bush by Tony Hendra; GRACE: An Intimate Portrait of Princess Grace by Howell Conant; BRAD '61: Portrait Of The Artist As a Young Man An Original Romance by Tony Hendra, Inspired By The Pop Paintings of Roy Lichtenstein; TIJUANA BIBLES: Art and Wit in AmericaÕs Forbidden Funnies, 1930sÐ1950s by Bob Adelman with commentary by Richard Merkin and introduction by Art Spiegelman; THE LONDON SUNDAY TIMES 1000 MAKERS OF THE CINEMA; ROY LICHTENSTEINÕS  ABC by Bob Adelman; MAGIC MOVIE MOMENTS by Bob Adelman, Michael Rand, George Perry and  introduction by Terry Gilliam; SINATRA: An Intimate Portrait of a Very Good Year Photographs by John Dominis  and text by  Richard B. Stolley, REMEMBERING JACK by Jacques Lowe with text by Hugh Sidey: LIFE The Great  Photographers by the Editors of LIFE;

TEACHING:  International Center for Photography, The New School, School of Visual Arts. Lectured at Columbia University, Stanford University, Union College, Philadelphia College of Art, University of Minn- esota, Miami University, Ohio State University, Steamboat Falls Workshop, Boston Museum of Fine Arts.

AWARDS: Guggenheim Fellowship; National Endowment for the Arts Grant; Art Director's Club Awards New York, Washington, San Francisco; American Institute of Graphic Arts 50 Books Awards; University of Missouri School of Journalism Award.

EXHIBITS: Smithsonian, Martha Jackson Gallery, Margaret Mitchell House, American Federation of the Arts, Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site, Howard Greenberg Gallery. Photographs in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art, The Getty Museum, The Hallmark Collection, private collections.                                                                                 

EDUCATION: B.A., Rutgers; Law Studies, Harvard; M.A. Philosophy, Columbia.