Living Archive Proof Positive · Smith Robertson Museum

Proof Positive

Work by five photographers who documented the Civil Rights Movement in Mississippi between 1963 and 1966

Smith Robertson Museum · Jackson, Mississippi · October 26 – December 31, 2026

Proof Positive is the first Living Archive exhibit in Mississippi, featuring Bob Fitch, Matt Herron, Jim Marshall, Jim Peppler, and Tamio Wakayama. Most of these images have never been printed or publicly seen.

Click on an image below. If you recognize someone, please let us know using the short form. Every name, place, or story you add helps return these photographs to the people and communities who lived this history.

The photographs

May 1963 — SNCC and CORE voter-registration efforts in Mississippi.

May 1963 — SNCC and CORE voter-registration efforts in Mississippi.

Homes, locals, Freedom School, man looking into MFDP office (Winstonville, Mound Bayou)

Item 4

Participants in the "March Against Fear" begun by James Meredith, sitting and lying on the ground under a tent during a Sunday morning prayer session led by Dr. King.

Participants in the "March Against Fear" through Mississippi, begun by James Meredith, seated under a tent at a rest stop, listening to Fannie Lou Hamer speak.

Mass meeting, locals and volunteers, Gwen Robinson (Laurel)

Three young women standing together inside a church building, at a rest stop during the "March Against Fear" through Mississippi, begun by James Meredith.

James Forman speaking at a 1963 rally in the New Albany amphitheater. Speakers included Bayard Rustin, John Lewis, and Andrew Young.

Joan Baez singing at a 1963 rally in the New Albany amphitheater. Speakers included Bayard Rustin, John Lewis, James Forman, and Andrew Young.

Young man standing in a circle with other participants in the "March Against Fear" through Mississippi, begun by James Meredith. He is smoking a cigar and is wearing a "Freedom Now CORE" shirt.

MFDP convention, with Annie Pearl Avery, Lawrence Guyot (Jackson)

Item 13

Item 14

Item 15

Participants in the "March Against Fear" through Mississippi, begun by James Meredith, standing in line during a rest stop.

SNCC and CORE organizing in Mississippi, 1964.

Item 18

MFDP, with Bob Moses, Lawrence Guyot (Jackson)

Item 20

Item 21

Item 22

Mileston Community Center, Holmes County — Casey Hayden, Hartman Turnbow. Freedom Summer, SNCC/CORE, 1964.

Three women standing in front of a car parked beside a road during the "March Against Fear" begun by James Meredith.

Item 25

Item 26

Mississippi highway patrolmen try to take an American flag from Anthony Quinn, 5, son of Mrs. Aylene Quinn of McComb, during a voting-rights protest in Jackson. After the attack, Anthony is comforted by Dr. June Finer of the Medical Committee for Human Rights. The frame in the bottom-left corner (with the arrow) won the 1965 World Press Photo Contest.

Jackson police dragged and stomped demonstrators who were loaded into a police wagon in Jackson's Farish Street district. At least 115 were arrested as protesters filled the jails in an effort to end segregation in Jackson. June 24, 1965.

Jackson police dragged and stomped demonstrators who were loaded into a police wagon in Jackson's Farish Street district. At least 115 were arrested as protesters filled the jails in an effort to end segregation in Jackson. June 1965.

Martin Luther King Jr. and Joan Baez visited Grenada in September 1966 to support the desegregation of local public schools.

Children congregate behind a truck during the March Against Fear, 1966.

Several participants in the "March Against Fear" through Mississippi, standing in a circle while singing. One young man is wearing an Ole Miss shirt.

1966 march in support of a boycott of white merchants in Grenada: "Downtown will need us before we will need downtown."

Jackson police dragged and stomped demonstrators who were loaded into a police wagon in Jackson's Farish Street district. At least 115 were arrested as protesters filled the jails in an effort to end segregation in Jackson. June 1965.

Participants in the "March Against Fear" through Mississippi, begun by James Meredith, standing in line during a rest stop. One woman is wearing a pin that reads, "Meredith Mississippi March for Freedom / June 1966."

1966 march in support of a boycott of white merchants in Grenada: "Downtown will need us before we will need downtown."

Mileston Community Center, Holmes County — Hartman Turnbow, Lawrence Guyot. COFO training, SNCC/CORE, 1964.

Woman holding a baby and an American flag, standing with a group of people during the "March Against Fear" while listening to Fannie Lou Hamer sing to the group.

Homes, local volunteers walking (Winstonville, Mound Bayou)

At a night rally in Greenwood's Broad Street Park, Stokely Carmichael delivers his famous "Black Power" speech. 1966.

Young woman in an audience, listening to speakers at a gathering during the "March Against Fear" through Mississippi, begun by James Meredith.

MFDP, with Virginia Grey (Jackson)

Jackson police dragged and stomped demonstrators who were loaded into a police wagon in Jackson's Farish Street district. At least 115 were arrested as protesters filled the jails in an effort to end segregation in Jackson. June 1965.

Item 44

Mileston Community Center, Holmes County — Hartman Turnbow; COFO training. SNCC/CORE, 1964.

SNCC and CORE organizing in Mississippi, 1963.

MFDP candidates and meetings (Jackson)

Five children huddle around a porch chair in rural Mississippi.

Fannie Lou Hamer marching in a voter-registration demonstration outside the Forrest County Courthouse in Hattiesburg, January 22, 1964. The hand-lettered sign reads "Freedom Now, SNCC."

A massive crowd gathers in front of the state capitol in Jackson during the 1966 March Against Fear.

Sixteen-year-old Dorinda Palmer leads marchers to Greenwood City Hall but is blocked by white sheriff's deputies and the local KKK. 1966.