Students in Bermuda's government schools and the Bermuda College now have a pictorial reference of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the civil rights movement, Muhammad Ali, and other important persons and events in modern history, thanks to Mrs. Roxanna Kaufmann, who has donated three books published by her late brother, the award-winning US photojournalist Graeme (Flip) Schulke, to each of their libraries.

Entitled 'He Had a Dream', 'Muhammad Ali', and 'Witness to Our Times', the books were presented to representatives of the schools by Mrs. Kaufmann in a private ceremony at the Bermuda National Gallery, at which Minister of Education Elvin James, family members and friends were present.

Noting that her brother had an abiding interest in government schools in Florida where he lived, Mrs. Kaufmann said he would have been pleased to know that some of his publications will now be enjoyed by students in our government schools and the Bermuda College.

"Flip lectured to the schools because he was always very interested in reaching younger people rather than older ones, and said they should know what went before," Mrs. Kaufmann said. "He graduated from a public high school, so he was very committed to the public school system, and reaching people who might not have such extensive libraries as the private school system."

In due course the private schools will also receive copies of the same three books.

Mrs. Kaufmann chose the BNG to make the presentations as it had mounted a major exhibition of Mr. Schulke's civil rights photography.

Award-winning US photojournalist Graeme Phelps (Flip) Schulke, rose to the top of his profession through a combination of talent, an unerring instinct for capturing the iconic images which others missed, and above all a deep love of his art.

Wherever there was a good story, a national issue, or a ground-breaking event, Mr. Schulke was there. He enjoyed a personal friendships with or had access to many world figures — President Kennedy and his brother Robert, Muhammad Ali, Fidel Castro and the early US astronauts among them — and was there when history, good or bad, was made, including the fall of the Berlin wall, and the first moon landing.

Doors opened for him and he had access to areas which were off-limits to others of his profession.

The famed photographer was present during the last week of President Kennedy's life, and while others ran around at ground level in the aftermath of the shooting, he took his camera inside the Texas School Book Depository and photographed the spot where Lee Harvey Oswald had set up his gun.

As the chief photographer at NASA, Mr. Schulke was standing close to teacher Christa McAuliffe's parents and captured their horrified faces as they watched the Challenger spacecraft blow up on launch. That, like so many of his images, including the dignified profile of Coretta Scott King at the slain civil rights leader's funeral, and young boxer Cassius Clay (as he then was) 'sparring' under water, became icons which flashed around the world. In fact, the Clay image became the most-purchased of the photographer's long career.

Mr. Schulke's photos appeared in such top publications as Life, National Geographic, Time, Newsweek, Ebony (where he was the only white staff photographer) and Sports Illustrated, to name a few, Many not only stunned readers, but also helped to change public opinion and influence the course of history. He also pioneered in underwater photography and dived with Jacques Cousteau.

A passionate believer in the civil rights movement, Mr. Schulke became a devoted friend of Dr. King, whom he first met in 1958 when they were both in their 20s. Their personal and professional relationship lasted for a decade until the civil rights leader's assassination.

Small wonder, then, that he became one of America's most celebrated photojournalists, and the recipient of many awards, including the 1995 National Press Photographers' Crystal Eagle Award for his work documenting the civil rights movement.

When the roof was torn from his Florida home by Hurricane Andrew in 1992, Mr. Schulke's archive of over 800,000 photographs was in jeopardy, but he successfully salvaged them for posterity.

Today, his work stands as a permanent reminder of an exceptional talent which, thanks to Mrs. Kaufmann's generosity, can now be shared, at least in part, by students in our schools and College.