The Spontaneous Bobby Kennedy Assassination Street Memorial (1968)

Residents of New York's Spanish Harlem spontaneously held a

funeral/memorial service in the street and sidewalk of their New York

City barrio for the assassinated Presidential Candidate Robert F.

(Bobby) Kennedy, a 'hero' of the Barrio. Your ratings and critiques are

invited and most welcome. If you rate harshly or very critically, please

submit a helpful and constructive comment; please share your superior

photographic knowledge to help improve my photography. Thanks!

Enjoy! John (This photo has never been seen publicly to my

knowledge, before this. jc)

the endless photographic dialogue between past and present goes on with this interesting photographic document. As usual your eye has been quick to get symmetries and feelings, to give the observer a new perspective on this tragic event. To rate a document like this one would be like giving history marks, so I decided not to leave my rating. I hope you understand and keep on sharing such good works. BTW - to answer one previous question you posed on my cultural background, I graduated s.c.l. in semiotics and linguistics at the University of Pisa. Thank you, Giuseppe

Your comment is duly noted and appreciated -- very, very much appreciated.

 

This is a long forgotten (and long lost) treasure, albeit a minor one that needs a caption to make sense, there being no photo of Bobby Kennedy to show in the photo.

 

Another photo from the same rolls I shot that day was my publishing debut - the third or fifth page of the New York Times.

 

Same event.

 

Just walked in the door and bumped a photo from Washington, D.C. off the pages of tributes to RFK.

 

That's how it was.

 

They just opened my (endless) film cannisters (I rolled my own, and often had 46 frames in a roll or more), and looked at the film, ran contact sheets, blew a few up and slapped me on the back.

 

A month or so later I got a check in the mail, bigger than publishers pay now for such photos. Things have changed.

 

Best to you Giuseppe and thanks for the background -- it is much appreciated.

 

John (Crosley)

 

 

We are privilege in sharing this great piece of documentary picture. Thanks for posting John.

It might have been posted before, but it lacks context.

 

It might have been taken anytime for any purpose, in the past.

 

It does not say 'Bobby Kennedy' and belongs in a PJ story where it is written Bobby Kennedy and we don't have to wonder. Otherwise here there is no connection.

 

But it was second in line for publication at the NY Times; they chose another of hands spontaneously reaching for a cross with Bobby's photo on it (and Jack's below). See this folder's earlier postings.

 

Thanks for the comment, Adan.

 

John (Crosley)

This Photo is copyright 1968 and is copyrighted also as part of this collection, 2008, John Crosley, All Rights Reserved. The copyright originally showed above under the 'copyright' field but has 'disappeared' and this 'revives' that notice.

 

John (Crosley)