CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 1/20/2020

We honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. with Lee Friedlander's 'Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom'

On April 5, 1957, Philip Randolph, Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Roy Wilkins announced, "As the Founding Americans prayed for strength and wisdom in the wilderness of a new land, as the slaves and their descendants prayed for emancipation and human dignity, as men of every color and clime in time of crisis have sought Divine guidance, so we now, in these troubled and momentous years, call upon all who love justice and dignity and liberty, who love their country, and who love mankind, to join in a Prayer Pilgrimage to Washington on May 17, 1957, where we shall renew our strength, communicate our unity, and rededicate our efforts, firmly but peaceably, to the attainment of freedom." Photographer Lee Friedlander heeded the call, and his previously unpublished photographs of this historic event are collected in Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom, clothbound with tipped-on cover image, from Eakins Press Foundation. Featured image, © Lee Friedlander/Eakins Press Foundation, is of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. at the podium, with Bishop Sherman Lawrence Greene, Bishop William Jacob Walls, Roy Wilkins and A. Philip Randolph in the first row.