the freedom riders potrait collection
DESCRIPTION
collection of portraits by Charlotta JanssenTRANSCRIPT
The Fr eedom Ri der s
Por t r ai t s by Char l ot t a J ans s en
www. c h ar l o t t aj an s s e n . c o m
Be r n ar d Laf aye t t e Jr . ( 20)
Ar r e s t e d May 24 1 961 ,
Jac k s o n MS
22" x 28" , ac r yl i c , o i l , i r o n o x i d e &
c o l l age
Ri p Pat t o n ( 2 1 )
Ar r e s t e d May 24 1 961
Jac k s o n MS
22" x 28" , ac r yl i c , o i l , i r o n o x i d e
& c o l l age
“ I met him at Mountain F ilm, and then again at a brief pit-stop at an airport. He pressed a book in my hand of Eric Etheridge which got me. I studied the mug-shots from 1 961 for hours. He said that Freedom Riders need to be mentioned with their names and faces, that they were very young and that in my show I really need to
include the very young kids from Jackson, because it took a lot of courage for them to stand up. He said
newspapers didn't want to show that white people were involved in this movement, but that I should. I'm grateful
for his wise words.”
Ge n e vi e ve Hu gh e s
No t Ar r e s t e d , t h o u gh s h e
i n s i s t e d , b e c au s e h e r
f at h e r was f r i e n d s wi t h
Bu l l O Co n n e r
22" x 28" , ac r yl i c , o i l & i r o n
o x i d e
Jo an Tr u mp h au e r Mu l h o l l an d ( 1 9)
Ar r e s t e d Ju n e 8, 1 961
Jac k s o n , MS
48" x 72" , ac r yl i c , o i l , i r o n o x i d e
Fr an c e s Wi l s o n ( 22)
Ar r e s t e d May 28 1 961
Jac k s o n , MS
22" x 28" , ac r yl i c , o i l &
i r o n o x i d e
Re v. Jame s Laws o n ( 32)
Ar r e s t e d May 24, 1 961
Jac k s o n , MS
48" x 72" Ac r yl i c , i r o n o x i d e ,
o i l , e d d i n g, c o l l age
“He was the teacher of the core group of Riders. He had spent a long time in India with Gandhi.”
Jo h n Le wi s ( 2 1 )
Ar r e s t e d May 24 1 961
Jac k s o n , MS
22" x 28" , ac r yl i c , o i l & i r o n
o x i d e
“After reading his biography I feel like I know him. I hope to meet him. I
love his happy smirk, but it was anything but a laughing matter, if you know what he had just been
through.”
Fr e d Sh u t t l e s wo r t h
Ar r e s t e d May 25 , 1 961
Mo n t go me r y, AL
22" x 28" Ac r yl i c , i r o n
o x i d e , o i l , e d d i n g, c o l l age
Ral p h D. Ab e r n at h y
Ar r e s t e d Fe b r u ar y 2 1 , 1 956
Mo n t go me r y, AL
48" x 72“ Ac r yl i c , i r o n o x i d e , o i l ,
e d d i n g, c o l l age
Wyat t Te e Wal k e r
Ar r e s t e d May 25 , 1 961
Mo n t go me r y, AL
22" x 28“ Ac r yl i c , i r o n o x i d e ,
o i l , e d d i n g, c o l l age
Wi l l i am Sl o an e , Co f f i n
Ar r e s t e d May 25 , 1 961
Mo n t go me r y, AL
22" x 28“ Ac r yl i c , i r o n o x i d e ,
o i l , e d d i n g, c o l l age
“A few months after I finished this portrait, I got an email: I loved the painting you did of
my father.”
Car o l yn Re e d ( 2 1 )
Ar r e s t e d Ju n e 2 , 1 961 ,
Jac k s o n MS
48" x 72" , ac r yl i c o i l ,
i r o n o x i d e & c o l l age
Davi d Fan k h au s e r ( 1 9)
Ar r e s t e d May 28, 1 961
Jac k s o n MS
48" x 72" , ac r yl i c o i l ; i r o n
o x i d e & c o l l age
“O nline I found a great candid description of his experience on his web page. Westbrook Pegler was the only journalist who could visit them. He tried to prove that the Freedom Riders were actually communists and had an easy way of figuring out someone was or wasn't a communist: he'd hold a few dollar bills into their face and ask them if they believed in money. If the answer was no, they were a communist. Fankhauser skirted the subject and eventually gave up and tried to test other Freedom Riders. In his account he wrote he had never seen an article by Westbrook Pegler after and that he was curious what he had written about. In my research I had found one and sent it.”
Ju d ge Ge o r ge Bu n d y Smi t h
Ar r e s t e d May 25 , 1 961
Mo n t go me r y, AL
22" x 28“ Ac r yl i c , i r o n o x i d e ,
o i l , e d d i n g, c o l l age
“When I met him, he shared the article: Head their Rising Voices, an add that the Southern Christian
Leadership Conference had taken out, asking the north for help and support. He said Rev. Bill Coffin had given it to him and that he had long wanted to go down and participate. He too came to my first serious opening on
this subject matter and shared his experience.”
Wi l l i am Har b o u r ( 1 9)
Ar r e s t e d May 28, 1 961
Jac k s o n , MS
48” x 72” ac r yl i c o i l , i r o n
o x i d e & c o l l age
“H is brother told me he still keeps a tin of Parchman prison biscuits. After his
incarceration he had to stay away from home for about two years. What a price to pay for a
young man.”
Gai n n e l Haye s ( 1 5 )
Ar r e s t e d Ju l y 9, 1 961
Jac k s o n , MS
48” x 72” ac r yl i c o i l , i r o n
o x i d e & c o l l age
Ch ar l e s Co x ( 1 8)
Ar r e s t e d Ju l y 1 3, 1 961
Jac k s o n MS
48" x 72" , ac r yl i c o i l , i r o n o x i d e
& c o l l age
Cat h e r i n e Bu r k s - Br o o k e s ( 2 1 )
Ar r e s t e d May 28, 1 961
Jac k s o n MS
48" x 72" , ac r yl i c o i l , i r o n o x i d e &
c o l l age
“ I met her at mountain F ilm. She feels very determined, and confident in her mugshots. She now has very wise and kind eyes
and is very outspoken about social injustices.”
Pau l i n e Kn i gh t - Of o s u ( 20)
Ar r e s t e d May 28, 1 961
Jac k s o n MS
48" x 72" , ac r yl i c o i l , i r o n
o x i d e & c o l l age
Jo r g i a S i e ge l ( 1 9) ,
Ar r e s t e d Ju n e 20, 1 961
Jac k s o n MS
48" x 72" , ac r yl i c o i l , i r o n
o x i d e & c o l l age
“She has such an innocence about her. It completely defies how serious things were.”
Han k Th o mas ( 1 9)
Ar r e s t e d May 24, 1 961
Jac k s o n , MS
48" x 72" , ac r yl i c , o i l , i r o n o x i d e
Hi l mar Pab e l ( 50)
Ar r e s t e d Ju l y 29
Jac k s o n , MS
48" x 72" , ac r yl i c , o i l , i r o n o x i d e
“The only lonely G erman Freedom Rider. H is daughter told me, this was
really important for him to go down with a friend. He gave his film secretly to a friend when he was arrested and wrote his story down on toilet paper. He was
bailed out as a journalist, but judging by the magazine he worked for, this
wouldn't have fallen into his scope of reporting. O nly 1 3 days later the wall in
G ermany went up, segregating us between east and west.”
Ed d i e Au s t i n ( 1 8)
Ar r e s t e d Ju n e 8
Jac k s o n , MS
48" x 72" , ac r yl i c , o i l ,
i r o n o x i d e
Jame s Be ve l l ( 24)
Ar r e s t e d May 24.
Jac k s o n , MS
48" x 72" , ac r yl i c , o i l , i r o n o x i d e
Jo s e p h Ch ar l e s Jo n e s
Ar r e s t e d May 25 1 96
Mo n t go me r y, AL
22" x 28“ Ac r yl i c , i r o n o x i d e ,
o i l , e d d i n g, c o l l age
“ I contacted Charles Jones late in 2009 and we had a cry in when we first met, that wasn't the last cry in either. I visited him in Charlotte NC and he graciously helped me understand what that time felt like and what they fought for: the beloved community. He came to my first serious opening on this subject, shared his experience and has been near and dear to me ever since.”
Co r d e l l Re ago n ( 1 8)
Ar r e s t e d Ju n e 2 , 1 961
Jac k s o n , MS
48" x 72" , ac r yl i c , o i l , i r o n o x i d e
“This man (he really was a kid then) founded the Freedom Singers after his experience in
Parchman prison”