Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 1590
Today’s illustration is a portrait of James Reeb from 1965 taken by Ollie Noonan, Boston Traveler. Reeb lived for a time on Half-Moon Street west of Upham’s Corner, and he gave his life for the Civil Rights movement. Many of you may have read the article in Sunday’s Boston Globe Magazine, but for those who did not, here is the link.
http://archive.boston.com/bostonglobe/magazine/2011/0717/
Deeply committed to the non-violent struggle for civil rights, he went to Selma, Alabama, in response to an appeal from Martin Luther King, Jr. On March 9th, 1965, he was viciously attacked by men opposed to civil rights. When he died two days later at the age of 38, President Lyndon Johnson called it “an American tragedy.” Reeb’s death helped turn the tide of public opinion in favor of federal legislation to guarantee voting rights for the country’s black citizens.
Source: No Greater Love: The James Reeb Story, by Duncan Howlett (Harper and Row, 1966).
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