This compelling photo essay was created by a young photography student about a year after the violent unrest that took place in Washington, D.C., in the wake of he assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. President Lyndon B. Johnson called in the National Guard to the city. Ultimately, 13 people were killed, with approximately 1,000 people injured and over 6,100 arrested. However, instead of focusing on destruction or devastation, photographer Lee Marvin focused his camera on the many home-made signs and makeshift symbols the he noticed strewn along Fourteenth Street.

“The idea for this essay was the result of a drive down Washington D.C.’s Fourteenth Street, one of the hardest hit areas in last year’s riots. The signs of devastation and destruction are still abundant, and for a stretch of thirty or forty blocks, bombed-out boarded up fire-scorched buildings dominate the landscape…A few of the photographs in the essay deal with this destruction- - this symptom of the malaise and malcontent people, especially blacks, are beginning to regard our repressive society…However, the main thrust of this essay is in a different direction. I became aware that something incredible (or maybe just beautiful) was taking place on Fourteenth Street…Everywhere I went I saw hand-made signs, phrases painted on boarded-up buildings, beautiful scenes depicting scenes in the lives of black people and black heroes. Signs, in short, of a new (or renewed) black pride.”

As a result of his efforts, Monroe apparently received an "A" for his work.