A new exhibition, Selma Is Now: The Photography of Spider Martin, gives renewed life to some of the most iconic images of the Civil Rights Movement.
Captured by renowned photojournalist Spider Martin, the images document the Selma-to-Montgomery marches, a movement that helped change the course of American history.
Cultural entrepreneur Doug McCraw is a co-founder of the FATVillage Art District and a driving force behind the project.
“I went through the pictures, it was very visceral. It was very impacting. And I thought, you know, just looking at it collectively, that it was I could feel an incredible story,” he said.
The final exhibition features 50 photographs, each meticulously reconstructed through hundreds of hours of restoration work. The result is not just a photographic display, but an immersive historical experience.
“I thought, you know, we’ve got to tell the story, and it’s just be powerful. And I think powerful is a good word, and powerful exhibition,” he said.
Selma Is Now debuted at the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts and the Equal Justice Initiative, timed to coincide with the 65th anniversary of the Selma-to-Montgomery marches. Since then, the project has earned national recognition, including a Pulitzer Prize nomination in the history category.
In a time when debates around protest and peaceful assembly continue to shape public discourse, the exhibit serves as both a historical record and a contemporary mirror.
McCraw believes every viewer should encounter the images on their own terms — to feel what they feel, and to draw their own conclusions.
Presented in partnership with the Broward Cultural Division, Selma Is Now: The Photography of Spider Martin is on display at the African American Research Library and Cultural Center through June 27, 2026. Go here for more information.