Nashville's 'We Shall Overcome' recognized as one of best art books of 2018 by New York Times

Before branching off to the Freedom Rides in Mississippi and the march in Selma, the civil rights movement made its way through Nashville.

It stopped at the lunch counters, where activists such as John Lewis guided students from local historically black colleges and universities in peaceful demonstrations.

It snaked through the city streets as citizens marched three abreast in protest the day a prominent African-American lawyer named Z. Alexander Looby had his house bombed.

And it made its way to the courthouse steps, when a young Diane Nash impelled the mayor to acknowledge the depravity of discrimination and then put forth the question that changed history.

“Mayor," she asked, "do you recommend that the lunch counters be desegregated?”

“Yes,” Ben West replied.

All of it was captured by the photojournalists of the time, and earlier this year a curated collection of those images was put on display at the Frist Art Museum in an exhibition titled "We Shall Overcome: Civil Rights and the Nashville Press, 1957-1968."

This week, the New York Times recognized "We Shall Overcome" — a catalog created from the exhibition of those poignant photographs — as one of the best art books of 2018.

"From a catalog that sheds new light on black models of mid-19th-century French painting to a collection of mid-1980s art criticism by the novelist and playwright Gary Indiana, the best art books of the past year provided a balm for turbulent times," the Times wrote of its best book selections, which were chosen by its art critics staff.

Nashville's contribution "captures a decade of everyday bravery and trauma as recorded in photographs, drawn from city archives, by Nashville photojournalists," the New York Times said.

How the civil rights exhibition was created

The exhibition's 50 photographs were a hand-picked selection from the archives of the era's two daily Nashville newspapers: The Tennessean and the now-obsolete Nashville Banner.

The images were captured between 1957 — the year that desegregation in public schools began — and 1968 when the National Guard was called in to surround the state Capitol in the wake of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination in Memphis. Of central significance were those of the lunch counter sit-ins that took place in early 1960.

Some of the pictures in the exhibition were published by the newspapers; many were not.

MORE: 1968 and the 'destiny of dissent'

Larry McCormack, a veteran Tennessean photojournalist who previously worked on staff for the Nashville Banner, partnered with photo archivist Ricky Rogers to identify the most visceral depictions of the civil rights movement in Tennessee.

Guidance for this project was given by Andrea Blackman and Beth Odle at the Special Collections Division of the Nashville Public Library; Maria De Varenne, executive editor of The Tennessean; and Linda Wynn at Fisk University along with the Tennessee Historical Commission.

The publication was edited by Kathryn E. Delmez, with a foreword by Lewis, who, after his time as a student in Nashville in the 1950s, went on to fight much bigger fights. To the March on Washington. To walk in Selma. And, eventually, to take a position as a U.S. congressman.

MORE: Award-winning comic book trilogy "March" brings John Lewis' civil rights struggles alive

Continuing pride and hope

During a speech at Fisk University in April 1960, King said, "I came to Nashville not to bring inspiration, but to gain inspiration from the great movement that has taken place in this community."

That inspiration continues today, through exhibitions like "We Shall Overcome."

After an extended stay at the Frist, the collection went on the road to be displayed at Nashville's Robert Churchwell Museum Magnet School beginning Nov. 30.

To celebrate its opening, the school hosted an assembly that featured a conversation with participants in the movement captured by the images.

They included Lajuanda Street Harley, who was one of the first students to integrate schools in 1957, and Kwame Leo Lillard and Rip Patton, who were crucial figures in Nashville's push to desegregate lunch counters, movie theaters and downtown stores.

MORE: The desegregation of Nashville schools — and the bombing that followed

In speaking recently of the power of the civil rights era in Nashville, Lillard said it simply.

"You can't stop that kind of avalanche of pride and hope."

Reach Jessica Bliss at jbliss@tennessean.com or 615-259-8253 and on Twitter @jlbliss.