Opa-locka photo exhibit offers visual narrative of civil rights movement

Key events in the civil rights movement remain ingrained in America’s identity, from the Poor People’s Campaign and evictions that led to Fayette County’s “Tent City” to the Montgomery bus boycott and trial over Emmett Till’s murder.

Covering them all was African American photojournalist Ernest Withers, whom Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. commissioned to document the movement. Withers was often the only photographer to record the scenes.

Now, 41 of Withers’ most stunning photos chronicling African Americans’ struggle for equality are on display through Aug. 31 at “Flash Points,” a riveting exhibit at the Arts and Recreation Center in Opa-locka.

– Jesse Scheckner, Florida Politics