The optometrist and artist who was shunned by the media and society-at-large after being declared "The Top Red in Buffalo" back in 1957 stands as the subject of director Ezra Bookstein's inspirational documentary about the value of standing up for your rights in the face of social injustice. It was the height of the Red Scare, and the life of Milton Rogovin was about to be changed forever - but not necessarily in the way one might expect given such a hostile social environment. Singled out by none other than The Buffalo ...
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The optometrist and artist who was shunned by the media and society-at-large after being declared "The Top Red in Buffalo" back in 1957 stands as the subject of director Ezra Bookstein's inspirational documentary about the value of standing up for your rights in the face of social injustice. It was the height of the Red Scare, and the life of Milton Rogovin was about to be changed forever - but not necessarily in the way one might expect given such a hostile social environment. Singled out by none other than The Buffalo News for his supposed involvement with the communist party, Rogovin's life as a dedicated optometrist came to a sudden halt when his friends and patients vanished into the woodwork. The truth is that Rogovin had been working with local unions to promote worker's rights, and doing his best to register black voters. Rogovin wasn't a man who sought out conflict, yet he refused to be intimidated or silenced by the paranoid powers that be. In the aftermath of his excommunication, the die-hard activist decided to use the medium of photography in order to let his voice be heard. At first, Rogovin took pictures of Buffalo's disenfranchised and marginalized population - the unfortunate folks he referred to as "the forgotten ones." While Rogovin never considered himself to be a true artist, he was soon traveling the world and collaborating with such luminaries as Pable Neruda and WEB DuBois on a lifelong mission to promote social justice. Today, Rogovin's photographs stand as some of the most powerful protest images ever captured, and sit well-protected in the vaults of the Library of Congress and Center for Creative Photography. Jason Buchanan, Rovi
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