a black man staring into the camera as 4 men stand with their backs facing the viewer

These Reenactments Put a Personal Face on the History of Black Protest

By reimagining historic scenes of black struggle in Africa and around the world, artist Omar Victor Diop explores what unifies these fights for freedom.

Alabama, 1965

Voting rights supporters marching from Selma to Montgomery in March 1965 had to brave violent resistance from state troopers and white separatists. Omar Victor Diop’s re-creation preserves this historical detail: Some marchers wore garlands given by a prominent Hawaiian clergyman as a gesture of solidarity.
This story is part of The Race Issue, a special issue of National Geographic that explores how race defines, separates, and unites us.
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