Danny Lyon is one of the most creative documentary photographers of the late 20th century. Mr. Lyon grew up in New York City and became interested in photography at the age of 17. He studied history at the University of Chicago and joined the civil rights movement in 1962, becoming staff photographer for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). His SNCC photographs are powerful, behind-the-scenes views of the struggle for racial equality, depicting the courage and idealism of those in the movement, as well as the hatred and violence of segregationists. During the next three decades, Mr. Lyon's photography focused on the lives of the poor and disenfranchised. He photographed motorcycle gang members, inmates in Texas penitentiaries, and demolition derby drivers. His images document the urban renewal of Lower Manhattan, a revolution in Haiti, and life in inner-city Brooklyn. In 1969, Mr. Lyon began making films, that include Llanito, Little Boy, and Willie.
Mr. Lyon worked sporadically for the Federal government as a photographer from 1972 through 1974, completing several assignments for the Environmental Protection Agency's DOCUMERICA project. In 1972 and 1973, he photographed the Rio Grande Valley and the Chicano barrio of South El Paso, Texas, as well as Galveston, and Houston, Texas. In 1974, he photographed the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, New York. His images from these assignments mirror the subjects of his non-governmental work. They depict ethnic neighborhoods under attack by outside forces, including Federally driven policies such as urban renewal. His photographs seek to preserve and record these communities before they were destroyed. That Mr. Lyon felt free to criticize the Federal government, even though he was a Federal employee, says a great deal about the freedom given to DOCUMERICA photographers.
Danny Lyon's original 35mm color slides from the DOCUMERICA project and supporting written materials, are preserved at the National Archives among the records of the Environmental Protection Agency.
