The computer-assisted moire technique was used to measure displacements and strains in the neighborhood of a crack tip. An aluminum 6061-T6 compact tension specimen was utilized to perform the measurements. The u (parallel to the crack direction) and v displacement fields (perpendicular to the crack direction) were determined, as well as the corresponding strains. Tension and fracture tests were performed to obtain the properties of the material. The stress-strain curve was fitted with a Ramberg-Osgood type of constitutive law. The stresses were computed from the strains using a two-dimensional generalization of the Ramberg-Osgood constitutive equation. The J-integral was computed along several paths. Good agreement was found between the K_I computed from the J-integral with the K_I obtained from the application of the ASTM Test Method for Plane-Strain Fracture Toughness of Metallic Materials (E 399-83) standard polynomial. The HRR solution was compared to the experimental results. Some important conclusions can be obtained: 1. In small-scale yielding, the HRR field can only be observed very close to the crack tip. 2. The region dominated by the HRR field is only a few crystalline grains in size. 3. The HRR field models the radial stresses very poorly but gives a good estimate of the tangential stresses. 4. The experimental results support the view point that in small-scale yielding, the J-dominance is independent of the validity of the HRR solution.