Stephen Somerstein is a retired physicist who spent many years working at the Harvard-Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. But long before he devoted his days to researching the interactions of atomic nuclei, he was an editor and photographer for New York’s City College newspaper. It was then, as a university student, that he wound his way to the great Selma-to-Montgomery Civil Rights March in January 1965.
Things Go Better With Coke sign and multi-generational family watching marchers, 1965
It was a last minute decision, but Somerstein had been attentively following the events in Selma. With five cameras in tow, he traveled by bus to the South, spending five days and 54 miles photographing the marchers walking for voting rights. He captured 400 images, of both the passionate activists — white and black — and the dissenters lining the streets. Somerstein sold a few of his photographs to The New York Times Magazine, Public Television and several photography collectors, but none of them were exhibited until 2010, when he participated in a civil rights exhibition at the San Francisco Art Exchange.
Now, ahead of Martin Luther King Day, his images are on view at the New York Historical Society, in an exhibition called “Freedom Journey 1965: Photographs of the Selma to Montgomery March by Stephen Somerstein.” We had the chance to speak with the photographer in a phone interview last week. Here’s what Somerstein had to say about his once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, his love of science and art, and the future of image making in the 21st century.
Two mothers with children watching marchers on porch, 1965
You were a student at City College in New York when you decided to attend the March. What prompted you to make the trip?
I was editor of one of the student newspapers at City College, and I was also involved in photography — I was the president of the photography club at the university. We had been covering civil rights and watching the news at the time in Selma. We were quite aware of the issues at the stake. I remember we were watching on television what was happening when the march was attempted from Selma to Montgomery to advocate voting rights, and people were nearly beaten and pushed back by the police. It was covered by national news.
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After I graduated from City College, I came to Harvard. In developing all my experiments, I photographed my technology. It was all extraordinarily well documented. It was a natural extension of my personality. Through my whole career, working in nuclear physics and with satellites, I’ve always been a documentarian. I always saw the world through a viewfinder.
Man with American flag and marchers walking past federal troops guarding crossroads, 1965
What’s next for you, in terms of photography?
There’s momentum to the exhibition, and it will travel. I have an enormous collection of photographs going back 50 years, which has not really seen the light of day. I’ve done documentary work around the country, some in Europe. I’ll have to start pulling them out my archives, and I hope that the galleries will be interested in this other work.
Nuns, priests, and civil rights leaders at the head of the march, 1965
“Freedom Journey 1965: Photographs of the Selma to Montgomery March by Stephen Somerstein” will be on view at the New York Historical Society from January 16 to April 19, 2015.
