#weloveatl Documents Everyday Civil Rights Heroes

An exhibit from #weloveatl is on view at the Center for Civil and Human Rights through Nov. 19 and features Civil Rights heroes like Larry Platt.

Tom Griscom

Go on Instagram and find the hashtag #weloveatl, and you’ll find hundreds of thousands of photos of Atlanta that double as love letters to the city.

A group of photographers started the hashtag in 2012, and now it’s a nonprofit that does photography projects to connect Atlantans to their city. Their most recent is an exhibit collaboration with the Center for Civil and Humans Rights called “The Time is Right,” the title taken from one of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s speeches.

For the exhibit, Atlanta photographers documented people involved with social justice today and during the Civil Rights movement who have gone unknown.

“[We thought] it would be cool if we could document these people who are the unsung heroes of Civil Rights. People doing little things, every day, their whole lives, both historically and currently in their community,” explained photographer Tom Griscom.

“That was just a side of that historical era we hadn’t heard,” said #weloveatl co-founder Brandon Barr added. “It is a high school student who decided to march. It’s GA Tech students who helped integrate GA Tech.”

The exhibit is on view at the Center for Civil and Human Rights through Nov. 19. There will be additional opportunities to see the film that accompanies the exhibit in 2018. Visit #weloveatl’s website to keep up with the details.