R.C. Hickman (born Rufus Cornelius Hickman; 1922 – December 1, 2007) was an American photographer, photojournalist and circulation manager, known for his photographs of the Civil Rights Movement. Hickman's work includes documenting the Mansfield school desegregation incident, as well as the visitation of people such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Ella Fitzgerald in Dallas, Texas. For many decades he worked as a photographer for the Dallas Star Post (an African-American-owned newspaper) as well as freelancing for Jet, Ebony and an array of other African-American magazine publications.
Hickman was further involved with The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), documenting inequality in Dallas, Texas, such as photographing the Dallas school segregation for the NAACP's court cases.
The publication of Hickman's book, Behold the People (1994), highlights the many photographs taken by Hickman during the time of the Civil Rights movements. Hickman's work tends to convey the everyday life of African-American citizens during the Civil Rights Movement era, specifically documenting subjects such as schools, universities, clubs and restaurants.
Early life and education
Rufus Cornelius Hickman was born in 1922 in Mineola, Texas. Towards the end of the 1920s, during the Great Depression, his family, consisting of his father and brother, relocated to Dallas in order for his father, a railroad Pullman, to find work as a cook at the Baker Hotel.
Throughout his early life, Hickman spent much of his time selling newspapers and magazines, such as The Courier Magazine and Woman's Home Companion.
Hickman began attending Tillotson College (known as Huston-Tillotson University) in Austin, which was a senior college established for African American students in 1881. Hickman later married his wife, Ruth Kay.
World War II
Hickman was drafted to the U.S Army on the outset of World War II. His actions in the War proved important in his development of an interest in photography, guided by his role as an Army photographer, which allowed him to learn the functions of cameras and develop his personal style. Many skills he learned during this time were taught to him by other soldiers around him, particularly during his time spent in Japan.
Post-War education
Following the end of World War II, Hickman returned to Texas and studied at the Southwest School of Photography and Mortuary Science, expanding his theoretical understanding of the art whilst beginning to enter the photography industry, working in a darkroom at Hall Gentry Studio.
Photography career
Circulation manager
Hickman spent time in numerous roles across the photojournalism industry, including overseeing distribution of newspapers in his role as a circulation manager, for the Dallas Star Post. This role involved touring many national newspaper companies across the United States, such as the Los Angeles Sentinel. He spent 12 years in this role at the Dallas Star Post, which allowed him to gain an important understanding of the journalism industry, and further his photography skills, also providing photographic services to the newspaper to use for coverage in articles.
Newspapers
Along with his time spent at the Dallas Star Post, Hickman provided freelance photography for many other local Dallas newspapers, including the Dallas Times Herald and the Dallas Express, as well as providing his services more broadly to the Kansas City Call. Hickman also spent time working in sales of newspapers and advertising, utilising the skills he acquired selling papers at a young age.
African-American magazines
Many of Hickman's photographs were used in an array of African-American Magazine publications, used as either lifestyle photographs or for Civil Rights articles. There were very few African American photographers that worked professionally during the Civil Rights movement in Dallas, however, magazines such as Jet, and its closely related Ebony Magazine, which Hickman worked for, had a large proportion of African American photojournalists, giving Hickman the rare opportunity to advance his career.
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
Hickman spent much of his photographic career working for The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), which was at the forefront of the American Civil Rights movement during the 1930s and 1940s. Hickman's work at the organisation was to be used for evidence in numerous cases and events for racial justice, specifically regarding the everyday treatment of African-American individuals.