Warning: this story contains graphic images.
Martin Luther King Jr. spoke to the masses and with his wife Coretta led marches on Washington, and from Selma to Montgomery; he is also remembered for his mugshot, the number 7080 hanging across his chest. All these images paint a picture of King, but a commemoration of the man must also include the images of suffering that drove him toward action. King was reacting against America’s history of segregation, racism and civil unrest.
The following photos portray daily life in segregated times that were fraught with overt racial tension. African-Americans are seen going about their daily lives while walking through separate entrances or occupying back seats. Also seen are acts of opposition, like sitting in a “white seat” or drinking from a “white fountain,” and marching through the streets with signs declaring protest.
It’s easy to forget that these photos aren’t from the distant past; King, who was murdered in 1968, would be 86 years old if he were alive today. As was illustrated last year in places as far apart as Ferguson, Missouri and New York City, we still live in an America at odds with itself and its views on race. This photos show what we were, and what King dreamed we’d become.
A man drinks from a "colored" designated water fountain in the Oklahoma City streetcar terminal, circa 1938. Buyenlarge/Getty
A crowd gathers to witness the killing of Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith in Marrion, Indiana, August 7, 1930. The poem “Strange Fruit” by Abel Meeropol was inspired by this image. The poem has been put to music in various forms by singers such as Billie Holiday and Nina Simone, and more recently, mixed into a song by Kanye West.Lawrence Beitler/Hulton Archive/Getty
A newsboy at a bus stop sells papers reporting that there has been little change in the habits of passengers regarding the bus companies' instruction to discontinue enforcing segregation, April 1956. Though the high court ruled bus segregation laws as unconstitutional in November of 1956, the law was not immediately adhered to. Ed Clark/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty
Two African-American students are harassed and followed by a large group of students on their way to school, in Little Rock Arkansas, 1957. Burt Glinn/Magnum
African American demonstrators attempting to swim in the Atlantic Ocean, on a 'white' beach are confronted by stick wielding opposition, in St. Augustine, Florida, June 1964. Rolls Press/Popperfoto/Getty
A crowd protests familial segregation, in New Orleans, 1960. Paul Slade/Paris Match/Getty
A flag hangs outside the headquarters of the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) declares 'A Man was Lynched Yesterday,' circa 1938.MPI/Getty
A woman passes a commonly seen "mammy" doll outside a shop in New Orleans, 1963.Leonard Freed/Magnum
African American children are attacked by dogs and water cannons during a protest against segregation organized by Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth, May 1963, in Birmingham, Alabama. Michael Ochs Archives/Getty
John Lewis, second from left, and others, demonstrate at the Cairo pool, which did not allow African Americans, in Cairo, Illinois, 1962. Lewis, who currently serves as the U.S. Representative for Georgia's 5th congressional district, was a key player in the American Civil Rights movement, and a strong advocate for non-violent protest. Danny Lyon/Magnum
Leonard Freed photographed this man “being forced aside by police,” in 1963. Freed’s 1968 book, “Black and White in America” contained his documentation of the civil rights movement in America. Leonard Freed/Magnum
A man breaks down during a protest against segregation organized by Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth, May 1963, in Birmingham, Alabama. Michael Ochs Archives/Getty
National Guard soldiers escort Freedom Riders along their ride from Montgomery to Jackson, Mississippi, 1961. Bruce Davidson/Magnum