Robert Houston (photographer)

Robert Houston (born in 1935) is an American photographer.

He was born in East Baltimore.[1][2] He documented the civil rights movement in the U.S., including Martin Luther King Jr.'s Poor People's Campaign and Resurrection City in Washington, D.C.[3][4]

Days after Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968, Houston left his job to become a full-time documentary photographer. Hoping to capture social movements and to contribute social commentary through his photographs, he showed his work to publishers and agencies in New York. After meeting the photographer Gordon Parks, he was hired by the Black Star photography agency. Beginning in May 1968, he worked as a photojournalist for Life magazine, where he was assigned to photograph the Poor People's Campaign in Washington, D.C.[4] During the Campaign, Resurrection City was constructed as a tented community that held nearly 3,000 residents on the National Mall. Houston lived in and photographed residents of Resurrection City for more than a month. He left before the full 43 days because of the birth of his third child.[5]

Due to the news of the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy, many of Houston's photographs of the Poor People's Campaign for Life were never published.[6]

Houston's work has been shown at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in the exhibition “City of Hope: Resurrection City & the 1968 Poor People’s Campaign.” The Museum holds his photographs of Resurrection City in their collection, as well as a journal he kept.[3][7]

See also

References
  1. Giordano, J.M. (4 December 2013). "Robert Houston has been documenting life in Baltimore and elsewhere for over 50 years". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
  2. Kreisel, Martha (2006). Photography Books Index III: A Subject Guide to Photo Anthologies. Scarecrow Press. p. 76. ISBN 978-0-8108-5693-6.
  3. Aboulhosn, Angelica (8 January 2018). ""His Camera is Guided by His Heart": On Robert Houston's Photographs of the Poor People's Campaign". Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
  4. Bryant, Aaron (2013). "Sight Syncs Sound: Civil Right's Music, Robert Houston's Photography, and the 1968's Poor People's Campaign". Sounds of Resistance: The Role of Music in Multicultural Activism. ABC-CLIO. p. 117. ISBN 978-0-313-39806-3. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
  5. Atkins, Lenore T. (13 January 2018). "Poor people's campaign photos highlight king's last battle for economic rights". Afro-American Red Star. pp. C1, C6. Retrieved 29 August 2020.
  6. Roig-Franzia, Manuel (27 January 2018). "Martin luther king's forgotten dream: Elevating the plight of the poor". The Independent. Retrieved 29 August 2020.
  7. Barrat, John (21 September 2016). "Building a grand photography collection for the new African American museum". Smithsonian Insider. Retrieved 29 August 2020.


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