Spider Martin

James "Spider" Martin (April 1, 1939 – April 8, 2003) was an American photographer known for his work documenting the American Civil Rights Movement in 1965, specifically Bloody Sunday and other incidents from the Selma to Montgomery marches.

Early years Martin was born in Fairfield, Alabama. He was slightly built at tall and , and though he would climb trees and church towers to get a different angle for his photographs, Initially interested in photography as a hobby, Martin embarked on a career as a professional photographer when given a project for U.S. Steel.

Involvement in Civil Rights

While working as a photographer for The Birmingham News, he was assigned to cover the death of Jimmie Lee Jackson in February 1965. His photograph showed Alabama state troopers about to attack the first peaceful Selma to Montgomery march with batons and tear gas just after it had crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge from Selma into Dallas County on 7 March 1965. Hosea Williams and John Lewis were leading the planned march to the Alabama State Capitol in protest at unfair treatment of African Americans and discriminatory voting rights practices.

Martin would join the third march, covering it from start to finish, at the Alabama State Capitol. Martin's photographs were subsequently published in Life, Saturday Evening Post, Time, Der Spiegel, Stern, Paris Match, Birmingham Weekly and The Birmingham News. He was represented for several years by Black Star. Martin transitioned into a career as a commercial photographer working with several groups, such as PBS. He also assisted former Alabama governor Don Siegelman in his gubernatorial campaign and toured with his Civil Rights photography throughout the nation.

Personal life and death Martin had two daughters, Tracy Leigh Martin and Michelle Martin Lunceford. He died by suicide on April 8, 2003, in Blount Springs, Alabama.

Publication

Exhibitions Rotunda, Cannon House Office Building, Washington, D.C. Agnes, Birmingham, AL. The Power of His Camera: Spider Martin and the Civil Rights Movement (Austin, Texas; 8 Apr–19 Dec 2014) Spider Martin Retrospective: Exploring the Role of Photojournalism in Influencing History, Carneal Building, Selma, AL, 2015. Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library and Museum, Austin, TX, 2015. Selma March 1965, Steven Kasher Gallery, New York, 2015. Photographs by Martin, Charles Moore and James Barker. "The World Saw Your Pictures": Spider Martin and the Voting Rights Campaign, Alabama Department of Archives and History, Montgomery, AL, 2015. Selma to Montgomery: March for the Right to Vote, Atlanta; and traveled to New Orleans; Montgomery; Washington, D.C.; and Levine Museum of the New South, Charlotte, NC, 2015. Curated by the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute. The Freedom Exhibition: Two Countries One Struggle, Abroms-Engel Institute for the Visual Arts at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, June 5 - August 8, 2015.

Collections Martin's photographs are held in the following permanent collections:

Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, Birmingham, AL National Museum of African American History and Culture, Washington, D.C. Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, Austin, TX