Blog Archive for February, 2008

A very belated Happy New Year to all of you! So far, 2008 has been quite busy for us here at the Wisconsin Veterans Museum. We have already hosted two programs and opened a new photography exhibit, “An Instinct for Light: The Photography of Robert J. Ellison.” It is really a striking exhibit, featuring 16 large-format, b&w and color images from Ellison’s vast collection held here at the Wisconsin Veterans Museum. But, don’t just take my word for it, please click the link the below and read The Capital Times’ review of the exhibit.

http://www.madison.com/tct/entertainment/272060

As noted in the review, it is fitting that Ellison’s photos hang during Black History Month. A young white college student, Ellison made a name for himself as a photojournalist on the Civil Rights trail, shooting images for Ebony and Jet magazines on the 1965 Selma March and the 1966 “March Against Fear” in Mississippi. Ellison’s images remain some of the most captivating from that time - Stokley Carmichael delivering his “Black Power” speech in Greenwood, Mississippi on June 17, 1966; Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. walking with fellow demonstrators and delivering speeches and sermons; celebrities as diverse as Burt Lancaster and Sammy Davis, Jr. supporting the cause; and dozens of photographs of crowds, protestors, police action, and segregationists, all capturing the emotion, drama, and conflict of the era.

Ellison became a strong supporter of the Civil Rights Movement after hearing Dr. King’s “I Have A Dream Speech” in Washington, DC on August 28, 1963. After the passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1964, Ellison worked to register black voters in rural areas near the University of Florida campus. He encouraged his mother, Miriam Eaton, to become involved with the NAACP and the fair housing movement in Milwaukee during the late 1960s. Ellison continued his work with African Americans after he traveled to Vietnam in 1966, shooting an entire article in Time magazine on the black experience in Vietnam. He even rode in the backseat of an F-4 Phantom jet with one of the few black pilots during the war, Lt. Col. Tim Boddie.

There is no telling what Robert Ellison would have accomplished had he not been killed at Khe Sanh in March 1968 at the age of 23. In his letters home to mother, he oftentimes talked of joining the Army and learning how to fly helicopters. Ever the daredevil, he always wanted to be where the action was, so it is likely he would have found himself covering the war until the bitter end. Other photographers from the era, most notably Larry Burrows and Henri Huet, met their demise after Ellison, but in the same way - always after a story and the best available shot. 

“An Instinct For Light” will remain on display until June 15, 2008.

To check out some of Robert Ellison’s Vietnam images, click here.