If it were not for KING – I would not BE.

My parents met in 1963 while registering voters in Philadelphia during the Civil Rights Movement. They married before it was legal and it still astounds me that it was ILLEGAL in most states for my parents to get married (See Loving vs. Virginia 1967) …but it was legal in New York. My profile photo was taken outside Judson Memorial Church by Washington Square Park that still stands and looks the same.  If it were not for KING – I would not BE.

I happened upon this church one night while walking home from a party. I had lived in New York for two years without seeing it. And there I stood standing where they did. And they were really standing for something amazing. They were both 23-years-old. 

I look at this photo sometimes and I see that my father’s suit is too big on him, and that I’ve never seen my mother wear her hair that way. But then I think about what I don’t see. They are standing in front of a park full of people looking back at them. And they are standing…and they are standing…and they are standing…

I’ve never asked my mother who took the photo, or if the people in the park smiled back. But I will today. 

CJC

This is me. Christine Jean. 
www.christinejeanchambers.com
Photographer/Writer/ Swiss Army Knife