Iconic Photos - Hannah Taplin

Birmingham, Alabama protests (!00 Iconic Photos, Time)

Subject(s): A protesting man in Birmingham, Alabama is attacked by a police dog. 

Photographer: Charles Moore – The native from Alabama and son of a Baptist preacher was a photographer for

the Montgomery Advertiser when the anti-Jim Crow protests were going on in the summer of 1963. 

Time Period: 1960s (Civil Rights Movement)

About the era of the photo: The culture in the south was keen on keeping black Americans separate from the white populace. In Birmingham, Alabama, the city was ruled by a white supremacy, headed by Bull Connor, 

the Public Safety Commissioner It was the rise of leaders such as Medgar Evers, James Lawson, Dr. King, and Malcolm X and actions of lunch counter sit-ins, the bus boycotts, and marches that inspired the push for liberation and freedom. Dr. King’s idea was to capture the movement through TV and photos in order to challenge segregation and racial inequality through white public outrage in the north. He wanted white Americans in the north to see their reality.

Why it’s iconic: It held up a mirror to the reality of unearthing a deep system of segregation and 

white supremacy in the South. It proved to all of America that ending segregation was more than just eroding the culture of the south

but restoring the humanity of an entire people. 

Human Rights Salute at the 1968 Summer Olympics (!00 Iconic Photos, Time)

Subject(s): The black-socked and gloved Tommie Smith and John Carlos, gold and bronze medal winners in the 200 meter dash of the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, raise their fists and bow their heads in protest of racial and socioeconomic discrimination. Silver medal winner and ally Peter Norman wears a human rights pin beside them.

Photographer: John Dominis – A lifetime photographer known for capturing moments that are unexpected.

Time Period: 1968 (Post Civil Rights Movement and Civil Rights Bill Passing)

About the era of photo: 1968 was a very turbulent year via politics, the assassinations Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Senator Bobby Kennedy, and protests against social norms and the Vietnam War. With the passing of the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts passing in Congress, many Americans believed that African Americans would be able to start to have equal opportunities in the United States; however, said African Americans did not feel that way and were left without federal and state protections.

Why it’s iconic: In this age of Colin Kaepernick and other black athletes using their platforms to protest  police brutality and bring awareness to issues plaguing POC in the United States in the 21st Century, it shows that this salute to push for human rights and basic dignity has always been there, even when in such an age of a giant forward movement of civil rights had done so much in legislation and socially. This photo is a symbol of its time but also a symbol of the fight that is still happening and has always been brewing under the surface and perhaps always will be.

Kent State Shootings (100 Iconic Photos, Time).

Subject: Mary Ann Vecchio kneeling over Jeffrey Miller, who was fatally wounded at the Kent State protests in 1970.

Photographer: John Paul Filo - Filo was a student and a part-time news photographer when he took that photo, capturing the fleeting of innocence within the eyes of Vecchio. He later won the Pulitzer Prize after it was published by the New York Times on the front page.

Time Period: 1970 (Vietnam War)

About the era of photo: During the Vietnam War, there was a large split between the generations.The older generation (The Greatest and the Silent) were for the war and supported the troops, and the Baby Boomers were generally very much against it and marched through the sixties and up until the end of the war. There was a lot of tension and violence against our own young people and it bubbled up on May 10th, 1970,  at Kent State in Ohio, where four college students were killed and nine injured by the National Guard within 13 seconds.

Why it’s iconic: This photo not only showed that the severe scar between those in power and those protesting it, but it also portrayed that the war in Vietnam had crossed over and settled in the heartland.