Time to Get Ready: Fotografía Social | Civil Rights Photography of Maria Varela

Civil Rights Photography of Maria Varela opens at the African American History Research Center at the Gregory School on Wednesday, December 2, and runs through Saturday, December 5. It's a self-guided exhibition, so you can walk through it at your own pace on either day.

The photos come from the career of Maria Varela, a civil rights photographer who got her start in social justice activism at her Catholic high school on Chicago's South Side. In 1963, she joined the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), where she helped develop a voter literacy program. By 1965, she had become the organization's only female staff photographer. In 1968, she answered Reies Lopez Tijerina's call to join the Land Grant Movement in New Mexico, where she spent her time supporting the establishment of co-operatives and non-profits.

Varela describes the images as a reflection of how resistance movements evolved over nearly three decades—moving from street demonstrations to political organizing and eventually to the building of alternative institutions. The show is organized by the National Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago.

Entry is free, and since it's self-guided, you can drop in whenever it works for you between December 2 and December 5 at the African American History Research Center at the Gregory School.