One of the most pivotal chapters in American history was captured on film by a twenty-five-year-old photographer named James “Spider” Martin. Throughout March 1965, Martin documented the voting rights protests in Selma, Alabama, from “Bloody Sunday” to the final march to Montgomery. His photos, widely shared by the news media, brought the violent treatment of peaceful protesters to the attention of the nation and led to support for civil rights legislation. In honor of the sixtieth anniversary of the events that inspired the Voting Rights Act, this collection of newly restored photographs is a reminder of the impact of those courageous acts. Selma Is Now serves as the catalog for an exhibition of Spider Martin’s work that premiered at the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts in February 2025.
Spider Martin’s photographic archive, housed at the University of Texas’s Briscoe Center for American History, serves as a poignant reminder of the bravery exhibited by those who marched in 1965. His photographs give an insider’s perspective on the chaos resulting from the Alabama state troopers’ vicious attack on peaceful protesters, and they reveal much about the relationship between the news media, the police, and the protesters. In revisiting this history, we can recognize the critical importance of these events to our democracy, both then and now.