Path To "Visible Glory"

The Million Man March In The Redmond Collection


A digital exhibit of photographs, audio files, manuscripts, and ephemera relating to the 1995 Million Man March, from the Eugene B. Redmond Collection at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville's Lovejoy Library.

It was a Million Years in the Making, that whopper-of-a-Set: Million Man March. A "Monster Mash" that helped me -- I gleaned during a Post-March Epiphany -- re-"situate" myself among my Brothers, my people & my Pasts. (Redmond, 'Sea of Peace' 12)

African American men from across the United States marched to Washington on October 16, 1995, as a demonstration of unity. In the quotation above, Eugene Redmond (poet, scholar, and Southern Illinois University Edwardsville professor) describes the Million Man March and its effect on him.

Redmond went to the March with the intention of gathering documentation and turning the results into a book. He and his co-authors Sherman Fowler and Marcus Atkins "went forth, cuddling tape recorders, note pads & cameras ... weaving interviews, observations & images into a songified fabric called Visible Glory" (Redmond, Preface 9).

This digital exhibition of materials from the Eugene B. Redmond Collection tells two intertwined stories. The images and narrative portray the journey to the March, the March itself, and its aftermath. They also reveal the progress of Redmond, Fowler, and Atkins as they created the book Visible Glory: The Million Man March.

Enter the Exhibition

References:

Redmond, Eugene B. "Preface: Million/ing to Glory.'" Drumvoices Revue. 7 (1997-1998): Visible Glory: The Million Man March. 9-10. Online access is unrestricted.

Redmond, Eugene B. "Visible Glory in a 'Sea of Peace.'" Drumvoices Revue. 7 (1997-1998): Visible Glory: The Million Man March. 12-15. Online access is unrestricted.