ART REVIEW

Passionate Protest: Scheduled to coincide with the publication of a book with the same title, “The Civil Rights Movement: A Photographic History, 1954-68” is a fine exhibition that only hints at the scope, emotion and impact of the handsome publication it accompanies.

A solid show in its own right, the 28 black-and-white photographs by 16 photojournalists (professional and amateur) at Peter Fetterman Gallery just scratch the surface of the book’s moving pictorial history, which weaves hundreds of stunning prints (by many more photographers) together with a thorough and illuminating text by Steven Kasher.

The deft combination of words and images begins the year the Supreme Court outlawed segregated schools; it ends the year Martin Luther King was assassinated. In between, scores of legendary and less famous marches, boycotts, sit-ins, protests, speeches, freedom rides and voting drives are recorded with the passion of a participant and the measure of a historian.

One of the best things about the book is that it lets the emotionally loaded photos speak for themselves. In well-researched chapters that are a pleasure to read, Kasher provides ample background information and historical context while still letting readers and viewers judge for themselves. It’s an effective tactic, especially with so much shameful behavior by white authorities and citizens depicted.

Almost all of the photographs cause you to quickly ask, “Who, what, where, when and why?” That’s the nature of good photojournalism and the reason these images are more suited to a book than to an art gallery.

Although fairly detailed captions are printed on an exhibition checklist, you’ll want to read more about the joys and the sorrows, the suffering and the striving so vividly captured by the stirring pictures. Admirably documenting an important chapter of American history, these photos portray emotions and goals that continue to resonate today.

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* Peter Fetterman Gallery, 2525 Michigan Ave., Bergamot Station, (310) 453-6463, through Nov. 30. Closed Sundays and Mondays.