My brother Jim and I saw our father go into the jails and pray with the inmates Sunday after Sunday. He prayed with both blacks and whites. If we ever repeated any slurs we heard on the playground, he’d tell us very softly, “I don’t want to hear those words.”

My brother Jim and I saw our father go into the jails and pray with the inmates Sunday after Sunday. He prayed with both blacks and whites. If we ever repeated any slurs we heard on the playground, he’d tell us very softly, “I don’t want to hear those words.”

Memphis is a great town, man. There’s a great musical community here. I’m trying to fit in.

There was hostility surrounding doing my job.

The plastic on your sandwich really doesn’t have to be made to last 50 years.

My career was 100% different from what I intended to do. I thought I’d photograph nature and landscapes but I wound up photographing the changing of the times.

The photographs were never about me. They were always about the people who were laying their lives on the line for basic civil rights. I look back and I can’t believe there was ever a time in this country when ANY citizen could not vote. The times were appalling.

Pictures can and do make a difference. Strong images of historical events do have an impact on society. They can help with change.