About the Photographer
Lyon, Danny
American, b. 1942 Brooklyn, NY
Danny Lyon's early documentary career was established and defined by his gritty photographer-as-participant approach. His first book, The Movement (1964), evolved from his experiences as a staff photographer for the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee during the Civil Rights Movement. In the Bikeriders series(1968), which Sparky and Cowboy, Shereville, Indiana is a part of, Lyon rode and lived with the bikers he photographed. Lyon's work belies the standard detachment of documentary humanism and objectivism in favor of a more complicated subjective involvement. Danny Lyon's photojournalistic style is marked by its staunch pursuit of the unembellished moment. Clearing Land, Ellis Unit, Texas, a picture of a prison work gang, is part of a series on prison life that later became the book Conversations with the Dead (1971). Continuing his interest in the communities that develop – voluntarily or otherwise – on the outskirts of mainstream society, Lyon photographed the daily routine and rituals that evolve in prison and within which issues of race, masculinity, and class coalesce.
Born in 1942 in Brooklyn, Danny Lyon received a BA from the University of Chicago in 1973. As a photographer and filmmaker, Lyon has shown insight into the worlds of those who live outside the mainstream of society. In 1967, for instance he was given unrestricted permission to photograph the lives of convicts in Texas prisons, resulting in the portfolio Conversations with the Dead (1971). His films include Little Boy (1977), Los Ninos Abandonados (1975), and Social Sciences 127 (1969). Lyon's work has been frequently exhibited and collected; he is the recipient of a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship and National Endowment for the Arts grants in both film and photography.
Related Collection Items
174 Chambers
82 Beekman, Cast Iron Front
A crowd watches the demonstrators returning to the city hall steps
Aaron Evert Jones, life, habitual criminal, from "Conversations with the Dead"
After giving a concert in a cotton field in Greenwood, Bob Dylan plays behind the SNCC office. Bernice Reagon, one of the original Freedom Singers and today leader of Sweet Honey in the Rock, listens. Mendy Samstein sits behind Dylan and talks to Willie Blue
Age 18, six years, theft; Age 18, three years, burglary; Age 18, four years, forgery, from "Conversations with the Dead"
An angry crowd forms in Cambridge
Andrew at Sixteen, Bernailillo, New Mexico, from the portfolio "Danny Lyon"
Andy, meeting at the Stoplight, Cicero, Illinois, from the portfolio "Danny Lyon"
Atlanta, police car window
Benny at the Spotlight, Cicero, Illinois, from the "Bikeriders" series
Benny, Grand & Division, Chicago, from the "Bikeriders" series
Big Barbara, Chicago, from the "Bikeriders" series
Birmingham, Alabama, 1963, Crowds Wait Along the Funeral Route of the Girls Murdered in the 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing
Boss, from "Conversations with the Dead"
Broken Gear Box Spring, New Orleans, from the "Bikeriders" series
Brucie, his CH, and Crazy Charlie, Mc Henry, Illinois, from the "Bikeriders" series
Building shakedown, from "Conversations with the Dead"
Bus Stop, Tehuantepec, Oaxaca, from the portfolio "Danny Lyon"
Cal, Elkhorn, Wisconsin, from the "Bikeriders" series
Cal, Springfield, Illinois, from the "Bikeriders" series
Cell block table, from the portfolio "Danny Lyon"
Cell block, from "Conversations with the Dead"
Cell block, from "Conversations with the Dead"
Cell of two Chicano convicts, from "Conversations with the Dead"
Charles Sherrod (standing at right) and Randy Battle (seated) visit a supporter in the Georgia countryside. Sherrod married there and thirty years later is still in southwest Georgia, a member of the Albany City Council.
Chicago
Chopper, Milwaukee, from the "Bikeriders" series
Clarksdale, Mississippi, police pose for a photograph as ministers from the National Council of Churches march to the local church
Classroom. Fifteen years, seven years, and a convict teacher, fifteen years, from "Conversations with the Dead"
Clearing Land, Ellis Unit, Texas, from the portfolio "Danny Lyon"
Clifford Vaughs, another SNCC photographer, is arrested by the National Guard
Club house during the Columbus run, Dayton, Ohio, from the "Bikeriders" series
Cockroach and his Family, Chicago, from the "Bikeriders" series
Condemned man, from "Conversations with the Dead"
Contents of arriving prisoner's wallet, from "Conversations with the Dead"
Conversations with the Dead
Convict and boss, from "Conversations with the Dead"
Convict in prison twenty calendar years, life sentence. Speaking is forbidden in the dining room., from "Conversations with the Dead"
Convict, from "Conversations with the Dead"
Corky and Funny Sonny, Chicago, from the "Bikeriders" series
Corky at Home, Chicago, from the "Bikeriders" series
Corky, at an Apache dance, Chicago, from the "Bikeriders" series
Cotton picker; life sentence, robbery, from "Conversations with the Dead"
Cotton picker; ten years, robbery and assault, from "Conversations with the Dead"
Cotton pickers, from the portfolio "Danny Lyon"
Crossing the Ohio, Louisville, from the portfolio "Danny Lyon"
Danny Lyon
Day room, from "Conversations with the Dead"
Day room, from "Conversations with the Dead"
Demonstrations at an "all-white" swimming pool in Cairo, Illinois
Diagnostic, from "Conversations with the Dead"
Dining room, from "Conversations with the Dead"
Dining room, from "Conversations with the Dead"
Dog boy, from "Conversations with the Dead"
Dr. Martin Luther King just before he speaks at Birmingham
Education department, from "Conversations with the Dead"
Ella Baker, who called the 1960 meeting of student activists in Raleigh, North Carolina, that created SNCC
Entering prison, from "Conversations with the Dead"
Entering prison, seven years and life, from "Conversations with the Dead"
Entering prison, two years for burglary, ten years for robbery, from "Conversations with the Dead"
Entrance to the City Café
Fannie Lou Hamer, sharecropper from a family of twenty children, evicted from her home for applying to register to vote, severely beaten in the Winona police station, SNCC field secretary from Ruleville, and future Mississippi Freedom Democratic party candidate for Congress, marches in the cold Hattiesburg rain
Field Meet, Long Island, New York, from the "Bikeriders" series
Forty-five years, robbery, from "Conversations with the Dead"
Four years, burglary, from "Conversations with the Dead"
From Lindsey's room, Louisville, from the "Bikeriders" series
Funny Sonny packing with Zipco, Milwaukee, from the "Bikeriders" series
Gaucho Field Meet, Chicago, from the "Bikeriders" series
Guns are passed to the picket tower; the line returns from work, from the portfolio "Danny Lyon"
Heat exhaustion, from "Conversations with the Dead"
Heat exhaustion, from the portfolio "Danny Lyon"
Hoe sharpener and the line, from "Conversations with the Dead"
Hoe squad, from "Conversations with the Dead"
Inmate outside warden's office, about to be transferred by local authorities., from "Conversations with the Dead"
Interior-St. George Building
IRT2, South Bronx, New York City, from the portfolio "Danny Lyon"
IRT2, South Bronx, New York City, from the portfolio "Danny Lyon"
Jack, Chicago, from the "Danny Lyon" portfolio
James Baldwin addresses a packed mass meeting on Freedom Day
Jimmy Hicks, Julian Bond, John Lewis, and Jeremiah X stand across the street from the bombed church
John Lewis in Cairo
Johnny Davis' Scrapbook, from the "Bikeriders" series
Johnny Davis' Scrapbook, from the "Bikeriders" series
Johnny Davis' Scrapbook, from the "Bikeriders" series
Johnny Goodpaster, Hobart, Indiana, from the "Bikeriders" series
Jones and Raymond Jackson, ten years, robbery, from "Conversations with the Dead"
Joselin, Santa Marta, Columbia, from the portfolio "Danny Lyon"
Joy Reagon and Jessie Harris, Peggy Dammond and Sam Block, Dorie Ladner
Llanito, New Mexico, from the portfolio "Danny Lyon"
Main corridor after work, from "Conversations with the Dead"
Main corridor, from "Conversations with the Dead"
Main corridor, from "Conversations with the Dead"
Main entrance to The Walls, from "Conversations with the Dead"
Many in the movement believe an organized effort is underway to depopulate black areas of the South
March on Washington, August 28, 1963
Mary, Santa Marta, Columbia, from the portfolio "Danny Lyon"
Meal line, from "Conversations with the Dead"
Memorial Day Run, Milwaukee, from the "Bikeriders" series
Morelia, Michoacan, Mexico, from the portfolio "Danny Lyon"
N.W. Corner, Fulton and Cliff Street
Namequepa, Chihuahua, Mexico, from the portfolio "Danny Lyon"
New arrivals from Corpus Christi, from "Conversations with the Dead"
Norris Mundy, from Montreal; five years and an eight-year federal hold, from "Conversations with the Dead"
Outlaw women, Starved Rock picnic, Illinois, from the "Bikeriders" series
Outside, Lester MacKinney, Bernice Reagon, and John O'Neal wait to get in [a Nashville Tic Toc restaurant]
Prison tattoos, from "Conversations with the Dead"
Racer, Griffin, Georgia, from the "Bikeriders" series
Racer, Schererville, Indiana, from the portfolio "Danny Lyon"
Racers, Mc Henry Illinois, from the "Bikeriders" series
Racers, Mc Henry, Illinois, from the "Bikeriders" series
Ralph Allen taking an affidavit from Carolyn Daniels in Terrill County
Ramsey, from "Conversations with the Dead"
Renegade's Funeral, Detroit, from the "Bikeriders" series
Renegade's Funeral, Detroit, from the "Bikeriders" series
Return from the fields, from "Conversations with the Dead"
Return from the fields, shakedown at the rear gate. Twice every work day., from "Conversations with the Dead"
Rider's Meeting Elkhourn, Wisconsin, from the "Bikeriders" series
Route 12, Wisconsin, from the "Danny Lyon" portfolio
Route 90, Alabama, from the "Bikeriders" series
Ruby Doris Smith, James Forman, Marion Barry, and Sam Shirah at the SNCC Washington conference shortly after Kennedy's death
Santa Fe Track, Chicago, from the "Bikeriders" series
Santa Marta, Columbia, from the portfolio "Danny Lyon"
Schizophrenic inmate, imprisoned twenty years, from "Conversations with the Dead"
Scrambles track, McHenry, Illinois, from the "Danny Lyon" portfolio
Segregated drinking fountains in the county courthouse in Albany, Georgia
Segregation signs still stand outside the Jackson, Mississippi bus terminal
Seven years flat on a twenty-year sentence, from "Conversations with the Dead"
Seventeenth Annual World's Largest Motorcycle Blessing, St. Christopher Shrine, Midlothian, Illinois, from the "Bikeriders" series
Shakedown before returning to the building, from the portfolio "Danny Lyon"
Shakedown, from "Conversations with the Dead"
Shakedown, from "Conversations with the Dead"
Shakedown, from "Conversations with the Dead"
Shakedown, main corridor, from "Conversations with the Dead"
Sheriff Jim Clark arrests two demonstrators who displayed placards on the steps in front of the federal building in Selma
Showers, from the portfolio "Danny Lyon"
Six-wing cell block, from "Conversations with the Dead"
Sparky and Cowboy (Gary Rogues), Shereville, Indiana, from the portfolio "Danny Lyon"
St. George Building, N.W. Corner, Beekman and Cliff
Stokely Carmichael and the Maryland National Guard
Texas prison rodeo, from "Conversations with the Dead"
The electric chair, from "Conversations with the Dead"
The Freedom Choir in the Tabernacle Baptist Church. High school students and children helped start the Selma movement.
The line, from "Conversations with the Dead"
The line, from the portfolio "Danny Lyon"
The line, Ramsey Two, from "Conversations with the Dead"
The line. Twenty-five, five, thirty-five, forty and fifteen years, from the portfolio "Danny Lyon"
The mass meeting in Danville is so crowded that it overflows out into the yard. When word arrives that heavily armed police and an armored vehicle are waiting up the road, the crowd disperses, leaving the SNCC workers to exit last
The Mississippi Freedom Democratic party was created in 1964 as an alternative to the regular state parties, from which blacks were excluded. Eighty thousand people joined. Here people vote in Mississippi, most for the first time in their lives
The morning after the bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, heavily armed members of the Alabama Highway Patrol make a show of force near the [bombed Sixteenth Street Baptist] church. The bomb exploded next to the wall and up through the floor of a Sunday school class. Four girls were buried in the bathroom and died.
The Road to Yazoo City
The University of Mississippi campus where James Meredith tried to register as the first black student there.
The yard, from "Conversations with the Dead"
Three convicts, from "Conversations with the Dead"
Torello Tachhi's Back, Loudon, New Hampshire, from the "Bikeriders" series
Truck in Nueva Casas Grandes, Chihuahua, Mexico, from the portfolio "Danny Lyon"
Truck in the desert near Yuma, Arizona, from the portfolio "Danny Lyon"
Two convicts, from "Conversations with the Dead"
Two years, burglary, from "Conversations with the Dead"
Untitled
Untitled
Untitled
Untitled, from "Conversations with the Dead"
Untitled, from "Conversations with the Dead"
Uptown Chicago, from the "Danny Lyon" portfolio
Uptown, Chicago, from the "Danny Lyon" portfolio
Visiting room, from "Conversations with the Dead"
Waiting to weigh cotton, from "Conversations with the Dead"
Water boy, from "Conversations with the Dead"
Watering a boss, from "Conversations with the Dead"
Weight-lifters, from "Conversations with the Dead"
Willie Ricks was one of SNCC's great stump speakers, capable of getting great emotional responses from a crowd. During the Meredith March in Mississippi, where King and Stokely Carmichael marched side by side, it was Ricks who first unleashed the "Black Power" cry. Here he speaks in Atlanta.
Young boss, from "Conversations with the Dead"
