‘Jim Crow must go’: the artists and everyday heroes who fought injustice – in pictures

Turn the Volume Up! at the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University highlights the activism of everyday people who have confronted injustice. New York’s mayor, Zohran Mamdani, quoting the Bronx rapper KRS-One’s song Turn the Volume Up during his election-day victory speech inspired the name of the exhibit. Featuring work by artists such as Kara Walker, Carrie Mae Weems and the Guerrilla Girls, the show examines how protests and collective action can create and inspire social change. Turn the Volume Up! opens on 27 August and runs through 11 July 2027Bruce Davidson, Time of Change, 1963-1965 Photograph: Bruce DavidsonWed 19 Aug 2026 05.00 EDTKara Walker, Confederate Prisoners Being Conducted from Jonesborough to Atlanta from the portfolio Harper’s Pictorial History of the Civil War (Annotated), 2005Photograph: © Kara Walker. Photo by Peter Paul GeoffrionBruce Davidson, Time of Change, 1962Photograph: Bruce DavidsonRalph Gibson, American Gothic from the portfolio America: Now and Here, 2009Photograph: Ralph GibsonBruce Davidson, Time of Change, 1963-1965Photograph: Bruce DavidsonPeter Williams, Incarnation, 2019Photograph: The Estate of Peter Williams. Photo by Brian QuinbyKara Walker, Signal Station, Summit of Maryland Heights from the portfolio Harper’s Pictorial History of the Civil War (Annotated) , 2005Photograph: © Kara Walker. Photo by Peter Paul GeoffrionReggie Burrows Hodges, Community Appreciation: Orchestra, 2020Photograph: Reggie Burrows Hodges. Image courtesy of the artist and Karma, New YorkCarol Summers, Kill for Peace from the portfolio Artists and Writers Protest Against the War in Vietnam, 1967Photograph: Estate of Carol Summers. Photo by Peter Paul GeoffrionSpider Martin, Dr King Speaks to the Crowd of 25,000 people at the March’s End, 1965Photograph: Spider Martin/Briscoe Center For American HistoryLyle Ashton Harris, Blow Up II (Armory), Detail from the portfolio America: Now and Here, 2005 (printed 2009)Photograph: Collection of the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina. Gift of Dr and Mrs Ronald Francesco, 2013.15.1Bruce Davidson, Time of Change, 1963Photograph: Bruce Davidson