Black Power * Flower Power

January 19 – March 23, 2013

Black Power * Flower Power: Iconic photographs by Pirkle Jones and Ruth-Marion Baruch, including several new and never-before exhibited pieces

Black Panthers, 1968, a collaboration between the husband and wife team of Pirkle Jones and Ruth-Marion Baruch, is a definitive documentary of a movement that had wide-reaching influence on American social, political and cultural life. Social consciousness was a way of life for Ruth-Marion and Pirkle.

Haight-Ashbury, 1967, by Ruth-Marion Baruch, details the Summer of Love, a time that profoundly changed the fabric of the United States. Thousands of people descended on San Francisco, the center of the counterculture movement. Everything was new: the music scene, language, lifestyle, psychedelic culture, and Vietnam, and there was no going back. Photographs are courtesy of the Pirkle Jones Foundation.

“These exhibitions presciently recognized the magnitude of what were to be defining moments in two of the most fascinating stories of 20th century America’s cultural history—the blossoming of baby boomer hippie ‘flower power’ in San Francisco’s Haight Ashbury district and the intensification of the Black Liberation Movement embodied by the Black Panthers.”

—Jeff Gunderson’s introductory text from the book, ‘Black Power-Flower Power’

“This iconic exhibit is curated to show the real human side of this bay area movement that got lost along the way in the media blitz”.

—Dave Christensen, Director, Harvey Milk Photo Center

Special thanks are extended to the Harvey Milk Photo Center and curators for their assistance and support in mounting this exhibition:

Dave Christensen, Director Harvey Milk Photo Center
Jennifer McFarland, Director Pirkle Jones Foundation
Susanna Lamaina, assistant curator

Kathleen Cleaver, Greybull Press, for permission to excerpt text from the 2002 publication Black Panthers 1968 and Elbert “Big Man” Howard for permission to quote excerpt text from his review.


Guest speakers during the January 19th opening reception will include
Peter Coyote, Actor/Activist
Jane Levy Reed, Film Producer
Billy x, Panther,
Jeff Gunderson, Librarian, SFAI
Jennifer McFarland, Pirkle Jones Foundation

Copies of the book, Black Power * Flower Power, the DVD, Pirkle Jones: Seven Decades Photographed, and select posters will be available for sale at the event and at the Photo Center front desk through March 23. Get pricing info here.


Exhibition Dates: January 19 – March 23, 2013

Opening reception: Saturday, January 19, 1–4 p.m. (Guest speakers to be announced)

Location: Harvey Milk Photo Center, 50 Scott Street (Duboce Park), (415) 554-9522

More info: Visit the Pirkle Jones Foundation

Free admission

Viewing Hours: Wednesdays and Fridays: 11 a.m.–2 p.m. and Saturdays: 11 a.m.–4 p.m. Call ahead at 415-554-9522 to confirm viewing schedule, as the gallery is a multi-purpose space.

Additional Events
March 9:
Emory Douglas, artist for the Black Panthers will give a talk and show his work; more details to come
March 23:
Closing reception, more details to come