Gage Park Protest, Chicago

During the summer of 1966, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. conducted a housing desegregation campaign in Chicago that culminated in August with marches on the South Side. White workers, homeowners, and young residents protested violently, resisting integration. Eventually the American Nazi Party became involved, organizing a series of smaller protests and then a demonstration called the White People’s March, held September 10, 1966. South Side–based photojournalist Darryl Cowherd was one of several local Black photographers who captured the event. Among the marchers was a high-school classmate of Cowherd’s who facilitated the photographer’s access at what must have been uncomfortably close range.