Harold Lowe Civil Rights Photographs, 1960-1964.
(Document/manuscript/pamphlet/archival material)

Organized numerically.

Materials housed in the Nashville Room of the Main Branch, Nashville Public Library.

Available by appointment.

Scope and content: Sixty-three framed black and white photographs of civil rights activities (boycotts, sit-ins, arrests, arraignments) in the city of Nashville, Tennessee, taken by Harold Lowe, Jr., for the Tennessean newspaper during the years 1960-1964.

Cite as: [photograph number], Harold Lowe Civil Rights Photographs, 1960-1964, Nashville Room, Nashville Public Library.

Limited photocopies are permissible when made for personal research use only. Limited copies for personal research use may be made using personal digital devices (such as camera phones), but patron must complete a Digital Camera Use Procedure Form before making any copies. All personal copies must comply with "Fair Use" provisions.

Images may not be otherwise reproduced. Photographer's estate retains all intellectual property rights. Requests to duplicate images must be directed to the heirs and estate of Harold Lowe. Contact Library staff for further details.

Gift;,Public Library Foundation, Robin and Bill King Fund;,2001;,Acc. RT-113.

Collection also located at: Montgomery Bell Academy, Nashville, Tennessee; Nashville Tennessean Library, Nashville, Tennessee.

Harold G. Lowe, Jr., born in 1933 in Nashville, Tennessee, was given his first camera at the age of five, and was processing his own film at age ten. As a high school freshman in 1949, he worked for Bob Grannis, a commercial photographer who also worked for the newspapers. John Malone, one of the Nashville Banner's top photographers, taught Harold the proper techniques with a 35-mm Leica camera. Lowe bought his own 1932 Leica, a trade-in that cost him $250, with money he earned working in Grannis' photo lab for 25 cents an hour. In the early 1960s, his love for photography and his work experience converged when Harold saw two friends, both photographers for the Nashville Tennessean, at a Civil Rights protest. A young black man came to an upstairs window at the Arcade and threw a Coca-Cola bottle down into a crowd of white agitators who were yelling at Civil Rights marchers. Harold was able to get a shot of the bottle leaving the young man's hand, and that photo landed Harold a job with the Nashville Tennessean. For five years, Harold covered the Civil Rights movement for the Tennessean, and worked as a photographic stringer for United Press International (UPI) before moving to WSM-TV, Channel 4, where he continued to cover the civil rights movement for television.

In possession of Harold Lowe and donated to the Nashville Public Library through the Robin and Bill King Fund of the Nashville Public Library Foundation.