Ferguson, Mo.:
On August 9, 2014, Michael Brown, a black man, was shot and killed by white Ferguson Police officer Darren Wilson. Brown was unarmed. The shooting, and the subsequent withholding of details by Ferguson Police, sparked unrest as occasionally violent demonstrations were met by a highly militarized police response. As media flocked to the town, the outright violence slowly subsided, but tensions remained high. The following photographs are from August 21 and 22, 2014.
Please also see Faces of Ferguson, shot on assignment for the Atlantic Wire.
Troopers of the Missouri Highway Patrol at the ready behind the strip malls of West Florissant Avenue in Ferguson Mo. during the relative peace of the second week of protests.
Dontey Carter of St. Louis, Mo. works on a sign for the coming evening's march.
A young man chants while marching down West Florrisant Avenue past the lights of cable news cameras.
Protesters rest in the "Approved Assembly Area" in the parking lot of a furniture store on West Florrisant Avenue. The Assembly Area was the only place on West Florrisant where police allowed protestors to sit or stand still without fear of arrest.
Police officers join some protesters in prayer as dusk falls on the night of August 21. Despite mass arrests just two nights earlier, by August 21 the demonstrations had become relatively peaceful, and Missouri Governor Jay Nixon withdrew the National Guard.
Jacobi Thomas, 19, of Ferguson, Mo., takes aim at the camera during a playful moment on West Florissant Avenue. Thomas said he had been arrested the night before, but immediately returned upon release. "I been out here three days straight," he said.
Gina Gowdy, center, of St. Louis, Mo. rests between marches in the Approved Assembly Area on West Florissant Avenue.
Travis Sowell of Ferguson, Mo. and Emily Dillon of Indianapolis, Ind. check one another's spelling.
With call-and-response chants of "Hands up!" "Don't Shoot!" Minister Gary Hill of Ferguson, Mo. leads a march past the trucks of national TV news outlets along West Florissant Avenue.
A young woman marches down West Florrisant Avenue during the second week of protests following the shooting of Michael Brown by Ferguson, Mo. Police Officer Darren Wilson.
Minister Gary Hill, speaking to protesters in the "Approved Assembly Area" in between marches.
A BBC photographer smokes a cigarette during a quiet moment on West Florissant Avenue.
Stephen Walsh, 26, of Ferguson, Mo. Walsh was one of the younger protestors who stayed at the "approved assembly area" at the south end of West Florissant Avenue, passing bottled water out to demonstrators. Walsh, whose brother had been killed in an unrelated altercation with police, distrusted the local reverends who were attempting to organize the protest, calling them "fake-ass preachers" who we're more interested in media attention.