Eighty-Five-Year-Old Photographer Steve Schapiro ’55 Reflects on the Civil Rights Movement

Chicago public television profiles acclaimed photographer Steve Schapiro ’55, who took iconic photos during the Civil Rights Movement. He reflects on his time embedded with James Baldwin in the South and meeting leaders of the movement in the 1960s. The photos he took of James Baldwin and the Civil Rights Movement illustrate a recent trade edition of Baldwin’s book The Fire Next Time. Renewed interest has brought this edition back to the bestseller charts. Even into his eighties, Schapiro has been taking photographs, including covering Black Lives Matter protests. “We are on the cusp of something which can be an enormous movement and can change this country in a very, very positive way,” he says, “but it’s still a big question as to whether that will happen or whether it will just pass by again.”

Post Date: 06-21-2020