A look at images of America: What is the common thread in these photographs?
© Susan Berger

A Photographic Journey Captures Images of America

What do you see in the four photographs above?

There may be several “Oh, I see” moments as you study these images—responses and emotions affected by who you are and what personal experience you bring to the conversation.

Different stories will unfold.

However, there is a common thread. Can you find it?

Hint #1: These are all reflections of America.

Hint #2: The photographs were taken in different parts of the U.S.—Little Rock, Arkansas; Selma, Alabama; Montgomery, Alabama; and Los Angeles, California (clockwise from top left).

What’s in a Name?

You may find many things in common among these photographs, but the theme that photographer Susan Berger explored in her artistic expression was centered on one factor—the name of the street.

All of the images in her series were taken on streets named in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

N. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
© Susan Berger

More than 900 streets nationwide have been named or renamed to honor King and his work. These freeways, boulevards, avenues, expressways, and drives give us an indelible glimpse into a cross-section of American life, bound by the name of a great civil rights leader.

A Serendipitous Project

Susan Berger is from Chicago, the first city to rename a street for King, so it was perhaps creative destiny that she would be inspired to document the neighborhoods that surrounded the MLK streets.

“I seemed to run into Martin Luther King Drives whenever I was in a new city,” she noticed. “Then, one day, I was driving in a very rural area, when I saw a sign pointing to Martin Luther King Drive.”

Curiosity prevailed. “I couldn’t imagine what that street would look like there, since I was used to seeing it in a more urban setting. Right then, I decided to drive around the country seeking out these streets.”

Shreveport, Louisiana

A Photographic Explorer

Using 21st Century tools coupled with a pioneer spirit of adventure, she took to the road. She googled streets with the MLK name or typed MLK into her GPS system and went where her research guided her.

In Long Island, she ended up in a residential neighborhood. In Beaumont, Texas, she followed a farm road that dead-ended into a farmhouse and four energetic dogs. In, Philadelphia, the road led her through a park, filled with joggers and bikers.

She avoided the portions of expressways that had the MLK name. Those neighborless stretches of road didn’t interest her.

North Chicago, Illinois
© Susan Berger

The different environments did, however, make Susan ask herself, “What is the best way to honor someone like King? Should the street be in the neighborhood where people most affected by him live, or in a very public place so everyone recognizes what he did for the country?”

She approached her project with no preconceptions, although she hoped to reveal the neighborhoods through their people. However, there weren’t that many people out in the streets, so she had to tell the story in a different way—with clues like signs, storefronts, architecture, cars, fences, churches, and windows.

Jersey City, New Jersey
© Susan Berger

Artistic Expression at Its Best

Susan clarifies that it was not her intent to send a message. “The thing I love about photography is that each photograph tells a story, and the viewer is the one who gets to make up the story.”

With the complex history of civil rights in America and the dynamic legacy of Dr. King, these photographs can’t help but elicit response. They tell a powerful story, although one that is open to interpretation.

In many cases, when Susan spoke with people in the streets, they were proud of their neighborhood.

Seattle, Washington
© Susan Berger

But some viewers of these images, like Joe E. Benton, President of the National Association of Black Social Workers, see the reality of urban decay in these neighborhoods as Martin Luther King’s dream deferred.

“Ironically, it may be fitting that such streets should carry Dr. King’s name,” Mr. Benton says of those cities where the MLK street is in one of the worst neighborhoods.

Newark, New Jersey
© Susan Berger

Susan Berger’s artistic expression in these street images of America may remind us of how far we’ve come, but, they also provide an unsentimental indication of where we need to do more work. The struggle continues.

“Once the streets prosper and become fitting places to live and work,” Mr. Benton continues, “those neighborhoods will become the manifestation of Dr. Martin Luther King’s work accomplished . . . and America will be able to rise to become the fulfillment of the ever talked about dream.”

American activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Martin Luther King, Jr.
© Estate of Yousuf Karsh

February is Black History Month, which, this year, focuses on the 50th anniversary of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

You can find more of photographer Susan Berger’s work on her website. Her work is in the permanent collections of The Cleveland Museum of Art, The Museum of Fine Arts Houston, The Southeast Museum of Photography, The Lishui Photography Museum of China, and Roosevelt University in Chicago.

Thank you to Jerry Fielder, Director of the Estate of Yousuf Karsh, and Julie Grahame of Camera Press for permission to use Yousuf Karsh’s photograph of Martin Luther King, Jr.

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