MONTPELIER – An exhibition of 52 photographs by Ross Connelly of Hardwick, entitled “PROTEST,” can be seen currently at the T.W. Wood Gallery in Montpelier through November. Divided into three sections, all photgraphic subjects take place in Washington, D.C.. They document the Pentagon March of October 1967, the student demonstrations at Howard University in the spring of 196 and the Vietnam Moratorium March of November 1969.
Connelly graduated with an honors degree in political science from Howard University in 1968 and then stayed on in the area doing a photography apprenticeship with George DeVincent. These pictures have an immediacy that conveys those turbulent times, though there are no scenes of violent confrontations between police and protesters.
The Pentagon March of October 21, 1967, began at the Lincoln Memorial and then shifted to the Pentagon. Against the backdrop of the colossal obelisk of the Washington Monument, its long reflecting pool and the columns of the Lincoln Memorial and the Pentagon, among the tens of thousands of people participating, were close-ups of New York reporter Jimmy Breslin, returned Peace Corps volunteers, poet Robert Lowell, Bread and Puppet performers, Benjamin Spock and Norman Mailer (being arrested), who later wrote a book about the event, “Armies of the Night.” Some shots were of small groups supporting the Vietnam War, as well as lines of police and soldiers, with a helicopter hovering overhead.
The protests at Howard University were more focused on issues at the school itself, such as the absence of Afro-American study courses, the ROTC program, excessive and arbitrary rules, a controversial guest speaker (General Lewis Hershy, head of the Selective Service) and other long-simmering resentments. This lead to 1,500 students occupying the president’s office on March 19, 1968. Student leaders are portrayed giving speeches and relaying what was going on via megaphones. Hardly two weeks later, the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King in Memphis (April 4, 1968) set off rebellions in Washington and across the country. A number of photos depict some of the 13,000 troops sent in to patrol the streets of the city.
The Vietnam Moratorium March of November 15, 1969, had over 600,000 protesters attending, hoping to end a war that eventually (by 1973) killed an estimated two- to three-million people, mostly Vietnamese civilians. Among the pictures that stand out are one of Arlo Guthrie and of two men carrying a large wooden cross.
All these photographs are in black and white, with fine gradations of gray, excellently composed, effectively capturing important moments in this country’s history. We may be tempted to simply see them as the past until we realize how many parallels they have tot he present. As Connelly writes, “Hopefully this group of photographs will open, or reopen, a window to that time period and encourage people to stand up, speak out and engage. Democracy depends on that.”
Connelly continued his education at the University of Michigan and Boston University, becoming a journalist and publishing the Hardwick Gazette with his wife, Susan Jarzyna, from 1986 to 2017.
The Wood Gallery is located at 46 Barre St. in Montpelier (enter on the left side of the building) and is open from noon to 4 p.m. on Tuesdays through Saturdays. Call (802) 262-6035 or go online at [email protected].
David K. Rodgers
David K. Rodgers is a writer, mason and card carrying dilettante, who dabbles and babbles in art. He has lived in East Craftsbury for the past 40 years.
