On To Washington

As during election week, photographer Mario Tama is in Alabama again tracing the sights, symbols and echoes of the civil rights movement in marking Martin Luther King Day and the Obama inauguration. These two images document a scene playing out in many cities these past few days, of African-Americans boarding buses for the trip to Washington.

The second photo not only captures the pride inherent in the week and this moment in history, but eloquently evokes the profound generational differences — forty-four years after the passage of the Civil Rights Act — when it comes to racial identity and civil rights.

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(images: © Mario Tama. January 18, 2009, Birmingham, Alabama.)