Photographing American protests

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A recent New York Times headline asked the question “Resistance, Where Art Thou?” Sure, there have been a smattering of demonstrations since Jan. 20, but none have generated the headwinds of the Jan. 21, 2017 Women’s March –– think of all those pink pussy hats –– or the race to the airports to protest President Trump’s Muslim ban a month later, the 2018 student-driven March for Our Lives demonstrations for gun control, and the Black Lives Matter protests after the murder of George Floyd. Since Jan. 20, we’ve had more muted outrage than signs, chants, sit-ins, and large-scale demonstrations.

In the foreword to Jamie Fishman’s new book of photographs, “American Protest: Images from the Streets” (Snap Collective), Ron Kuby writes, “These are fraught times for those who peacefully and publicly demand social change.” Fraught, indeed!

Fishman has spent over 40 years taking photographs of demonstrators holding signs, locking arms, taking a knee, and walking through the streets. His book reminds us of the power of the protest, and unfortunately, how much there is to fight for. It is an important collection, especially in these Trumpian times, as we watch the daily dismantling of yet another government agency.

The book opens with a series of images from an anti-Apartheid protest that was held in New York City on June 14, 1986. Fishman covered anti-Contra protests in Brooklyn, ACT-UP AIDS demonstrations at City Hall in New York City, Gulf War protests at Foley Square in New York City, and the taking-a-knee vigils for George Floyd at Beetlebung Corner in Chilmark. The final photograph in his book is of a man standing on a bench holding a “LOCK HIM UP” sign. It was taken on May 30, 2024, moments after the guilty verdict at Trump’s criminal trial was read.

I recently emailed Fishman, who has been coming to the Vineyard since 1959, a few questions about his interest in photographing protests. His answers, which have been lightly edited for space, are below:

What motivated you to start, and then to continue taking photographs of protests?
I went to my first protest in Mt. Vernon, NY, following the Birmingham church bombing in 1963. It was a joint event sponsored by my synagogue and a black church in Mt. Vernon. In the early 1960s I was captivated by the black-and-white images in Life magazine of the civil rights protests in the South. I attended my first mass protest in Washington, D.C., in November 1969, with hundreds of thousands, against the Vietnam War. I was tear-gassed by the police and became even more committed to political protest. I didn’t start shooting seriously until 1980 at age 26. I spent the next six years immersing myself in photography, studying many different photographers’ work, going to galleries and museums, reading books and magazines about photojournalists and documentary photographers. As I became more comfortable with a camera, I began to shoot protest marches in Washington, D.C. and New York City. 

When you are photographing a protest, are you thinking about individual images or the story they tell together?
I try to focus on interesting imagery within the masses –– singling out an interesting face or sign and then showing that singular image in the context of the larger mass of people.

In the years you’ve been photographing protests, have you noticed changes in the way people protest?
There seems to be more anger and vitriol than I recall from 40 years ago. People seem more impatient now for immediate change.

Why black and white?
I grew up with the New York Times and was drawn to its consistently excellent photojournalists. The Times didn’t start publishing color photos until 1997. For me, black-and-white was grittier, more down-to-earth. I wanted to convey that sense in my book.

Can you talk about your day job a bit and how you got into photography?
I’m a public interest lawyer. I started at the New York Attorney General’s office in the Bureau of Consumer Fraud and Protection, then went to the Legal Aid Society, where I represented low-income tenants and consumers. In 1989, I started my private practice, where I’ve continued to represent tenants, consumers, and other individuals against businesses and big corporations. Working in Lower Manhattan for many years, there were many opportunities to photograph protests and other events. For 10 years in the ’90s I had an “NYC Police Department” press pass which enabled me to get up close to the action and gave me even more impetus to go out and shoot protests and other events.

Is this book a call to action for people to protest or a historical document or something else?
Hopefully it’s both of those things. As a documentary photographer, I feel it’s important to show historical imagery to young people who didn’t live through much of the older events in the book.Most importantly, I see political protest as a means of survival as we slide further into totalitarianism and oligarchy. I hope my book helps keep that alive.

“American Protest: Images from the Streets” by Jamie Fishman is available at Edgartown Books and can be ordered through Bunch of Grapes.