Martin Luther King Artifact Analysis

A popular saying goes by a picture is worth a 100 words and when it comes to my image (artifact), the same can be said about the image I selected from the whitehouse.gov/issue website. The image was found under civil rights and the image has a quote inserted into it. The image has prominent members of the society whom were very involved in the civil rights movement like martin Luther king. When it comes to diversity, the image compromises of diversity in race and age group. The artifact consists of landscape, the white house and the American flag and also it is in white and black. At the bottom of the image, the quote by martin Luther king inserted is "If the worst in American life lurked in [Selma's] dark streets, the best of American instincts

arose passionately from across the nation to overcome it." — Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., March 25, 1965. The quote is written legibly in big and bold fonts. When it comes to the quote, the quote is basically arguing that good things can sprout from where it most widely perceived not to and if an aspect or specific geographical location of the country is struggling, it takes and requires a collectively effort of the whole community to overcome the challenges.
Its one thing to choose an image and it is another thing for the image to fit with the message you are trying to convey. According to Stone (2002) “symbol is anything that can stand for something else” and when analyzing the artifact, numerous symbols represents and stands for different things in the image. The inclusion of the flag in the picture or its purpose is symbolic to the image and civil rights movement because the flag of the united states is held in high esteem and to different people, it signifies different things but, the one overarching meaning connected with the flag is that the flag represent freedom and equality and looking at the whole civil right movements, the main purpose was to achieve freedom and equality of African Americans and it is only right to include the national symbol that almost everyone understands what it signifies. United we stand, divided we fall.
Color means everything. If the image (artifact) were in colored compared to white and black, my interpretation of the image would have been different. The image being in black and white from the onset signifies old. Back in the time where the picture was taken, black and white was the only option available but, for the white house deciding to use the original color without any edit to the image brings the idea of authenticity, uniqueness and respect to not only the image for what it stands for or what it accomplished but also what it would do in the future. The civil right movement. Discussion still ongoing in our community, using this image shows what the white house/government thinks are views the topic of civil right.
When it comes to symbolic features of my artifacts a lot of symbols and connotation is associated to the image. When I looked at the image, the first item that stood out to me was the image of Dr Martin Luther King. Martin Luther is a worldwide symbol of peace, equality, and most of all civil advocate. When looking at the context in which the artifact was used when talking about the 50years anniversary of Selma to Montgomery, using the image that included MLK was appropriate because he was the founding father of the movement and his morals and view points aligns with what the white house is trying to accomplish in the modern era.

The landscape/the location of the background of the artifact brought a sense of urgency to the image and also the topic at hand. There is so much an individual can do or success that a protest at a state or highway can result to but, taking the issue/march to the white house showed the important and urgency of the issue and the picture taken at prestigious location like the white house, it brings or shows credibility to both the image but also the movement in general. The quote used beneath the picture "If the worst in American life lurked in [Selma's] dark streets, the best of American instincts arose passionately from across the nation to overcome It." — Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., March 25, 1965 goes back again to reinforce the notion that to achieve our goal, we need collective effort. The quote implies that if something is not working right in a section of the nation or the community and that’s where the wrongdoings are manifesting from, to conquer and move on from that setback the nation has to band together.
The diversity both with race, gender and demographics adds more credibility to what the movement is trying to accomplish and also alluded to synecdoche. Synecdoche’s being a figure of speech were a part is used to represent and generalize the whole, diversity in the artifact definitely alluded to synecdoche’s. Having an image with just men or African American or adults would defeat the whole purpose of the movement. To my understanding, the whole purpose of the movement was to convince/urge the government to extend the rights provided to the citizens of the united states to the African American race and to accomplish such a great feat, everyone had to participate because everyone was affected regardless of your stance in the issue or what age or race you belong to it was all a collective impact and so having an image that captures the basic essence of the movement strengthens the notions that citizens as a nation has to band together in order to accomplish their collective goals no matter what category you fit into.
With the history that I know about Martin Luther king and the civil rights movement, the symbol is definitely compelling and persuasive and understandable to the basic individual or citizen.

We learn or encounter history in our daily interaction either thorough media or basic conversation and with tings like flags, black and white, white house and Martin Luther king all in one image, it is clear to assume that any individual would know what each individual items represent t if not all of them collectively. When tracing the history and underling meaning in the artifacts and cross-referencing it to stone symbol, it becomes clear that the white house is telling a stymied progress story. They are telling this story in the sense that in the beginning things were bad and minorities didn’t have civil rights but after the movement civil rights was achieved and now in the future, something is threatening this achievement either through the citizens nothing working together to achieve a common goal like MLK said we should or by us deviating from the right path. The white using this image, they are basically trying to communicate to the public on how far we have come, what we have accomplished and what we can achieve if we work

together.
Our nations in the recent time has not been in its finest form with civil right issues and movement like black lives matter to same sex marriage. The media so far has been implying that the government especially the white house doesn’t care about killing of civilians by law enforcement and etc. and white trying to combat that notion by using the image to show that they care and pay attention to issues like that, the white house is trying to communicate justice, equality and most importantly solidarity by commemorating the image of the Selma movement and using it the section that talks about issue and civil right and using it in its original form, it is communicating to the public that the government understands what is going on, and is in solidarity with us and is also working hard to preserve and make sure that the movement 5o years ago would not be in vain.