JESSICA INGRAM: CENTER 2011 Santa Fe Prize

Koinonia

Photograph © Jessica Ingram

Koinonia Farms was founded by Clarence Jordan in 1942 in Americus, Georgia as an interracial community where people could live and work. During the Civil Rights Movement, both black and white children from Koinonia were not allowed to attend segregated schools. Koinonia withstood firebombing, night riding, Klan intimidation, and economic boycotts. Koinonia still exists today as an interracial community, dedicated to affordable housing for all. Habitat for Humanity was founded at Koinonia in the 1960s as a response to poverty in the rural American South.

Bank of the Sunflower River
Photograph © Jessica Ingram

In 1970, Rainey Poole, 54, a one-armed sharecropper from Midnight, Mississippi, was beaten by a group of white men and dumped in the Sunflower River. Five men were arrested and charged with assault and murder. The charges were dropped. In 1999, the five were re-tried. Three were convicted of manslaughter, one pleaded guilty to manslaughter, and the other was acquitted.

Armstrong Rubber Company, Natchez, Mississippi
Photograph © Jessica Ingram

On February 27, 1967, Wharlest Jackson, the treasurer of the local NAACP chapter, was killed by a car bomb left by Klansmen, shortly after he received a promotion to a position formerly reserved for whites. His son, Wharlest Jackson, Jr., heard the blast from his home nearby, and rushed to the scene to find his father dead in the road. No one has been convicted for this crime.

Court Square Slave Market, Montgomery, Alabama
Photograph © Jessica Ingram

JESSICA INGRAM // 2011 Santa Fe Prize Winner

A Civil Rights Memorial

"Five years ago, I wandered downtown Montgomery in the sweltering heat, picked up a walking tour trail, and found myself facing a large, ornate fountain, situated on a brick pavilion. A Historical Marker said that I was standing on the former Court Square Slave Market, where slave traders sold men, women, and children to the highest bidder. It presented cold facts, detailing dollar values for slaves at the time and how none were given last names.

I was speechless. The fountain was erected at a time when this site was not considered for its history, the sign placed in a gesture of reconsideration. Moreover, the language printed on the sign was so void of sentiment – in no way testifying to the experience and meaning. I am from the American South, aware of the devastating history of slavery, but this site moved something in me that caught fire. I watched people pass by and wondered if they knew or thought of the history beneath their feet. Curious about other histories and sites (marked and unmarked) I may be passing by in the American South, I began to research." – Jessica Ingram read more

+ + +

"Each submission is deserving of recognition. I urge you to look at the list of nominees; visit their websites or seek out their work; you will be affected." –Juror Maggie Blanchard, Director, Twin Palms Publishers

SANTA FE PRIZE

The biennial Santa Fe Prize recognizes a meaningful photographic project. Nominations are received by today's leading art and photographic professionals from around the world. It is an honor to be nominated for this $10,000 cash award and we are pleased to acknowledge and support all of the 2011 nominees.

FIRST PLACE
Jessica Ingram, A Civil Rights Memorial

HONORABLE MENTIONS
Christopher Capozziello, The Distance Between Us
Dona Schwartz, On The Nest
Manjari Sharma, Darshan
Emily Shur, Shizenkan
Will Steacy, Deadline
Amy Stein, Stranded
Pinar Yolacan, Untitled