Social protest photography and public history: “Whose streets? Our streets!”: New York City, 1980–2000

Abstract

“Whose streets? Our streets!,” a traveling exhibition thatdebuted at the Bronx Documentary Center in January2017, brings together the work of 37 independent photo-graphers who covered protests in New York City between1980 and 2000. Collectively, they chronicle social justicestruggles related to race relations and police brutality; warand the environment; HIV/AIDS and queer activism;abortion rights, feminism, and the culture wars; andhousing, education, and labor. The exhibition and compa-nion multimedia website demonstrate the role that pho-tographers, activists, and ordinary people play in enactingdemocratic social change. They also highlight social protestphotography as an important source for doing publichistory.