The photo Boston will never live down
By adamg - Wed, 04/09/2008 - 11:03am.
You know the one - Stanley Forman's portrait of hate showing a white guy holding a black guy in front of City Hall so another white guy can try to spear him with an American flag. Now there's a book about the incident: The Soiling of Old Glory: The Story of a Photograph That Shocked America.
The Los Angeles Times reviews the book today.
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That guy...is Ted Landsmark....
...is Ted Landsmark. And I mean the "black guy". He is the president of the Boston Architectural College and an incredible inspiration for many.
I have met him in person and I have listened to him speak to professionals about giving back to the community to encourage minorities to enter the architectural profession (less than 2% or so are minorities).
Anyway. I think so highly of "that black guy". I just wanted to give him his name. Credit where credit is due.
Anyone who didn't know - is
Anyone who didn't know - is there anyone around here? - would have learned that by following the link. Which is the point, isn't it?
Pulitzer-winning photographer
Stanley Forman of the Boston Herald American won three Pulitzers in the late 1970s, one of which was for this photo.
His other iconographic image
Was from a series of photos showing a woman falling to her death from a burning building. It's sort of like those photos of people falling out of the World Trade Center: You know you're looking at somebody about to die and there's absolutely nothing you can do about it.
The little girl survived
There are two people falling - a toddler, and her aunt. The fire escape gave way just as the firefighters got the ladder up to them (the shot Forman was after was the firefighter pulling them off).
The Globe had an interview with Tiare Jones - now an adult - a few years back.
Freefalling
Story goes that the fire escape didn't give way but was hit by the BFD ladder trying to save them.
Well deserved Pulitzers
He was a great photographer.
This was a useless comment
The comment that you replied to added useful information as well as personal observation. And yours?
Point taken
I didn't know about him at all until I met him in person....Europeans like me, clueless to Boston history.
Happy you are so in tune with history.
One for the History Books
Even my 1982 vintage American History text had that photo in it under "civil rights movement".
It was such a powerful photo that it was printed in text books within 6 years. There is something so very compellingly wrong about the whole thing - and no way to deny that.
very deep
In 82 I was a kid. I'm compelled to share
That other guy...is City Councilor Jim Kelly.....
not the guy with the flag, the other guy you cant really see. the guy pulling mr landsmark out of harms way.the late jim kelly of south boston.boston city counciler and forced bussing opponent.the young thug with the flag is one of the rakes, of south boston, whose family was caught up in the whole whitey bulger liquor store hostile takeover.its quite an interesting story behind the whole thing.
A news report from the next day
When Channel 2 still did local news. Landsmark really got stomped. And the kids who beat him were there for an anti-busing rally organized by, ta da, Louise Day Hicks.
Wait, is this true?
Wait, is it true? Was it Jimmy Kelly?
Oh, and I can't tell who is criticizing who. Was it wrong for someone to mention Ted Landsmark's name, or wrong for the guy to criticize the guy who mentioned Ted Landsmark's name?
truthiness
usnews.com...a-flag-a-busing-fight-and-a-famous-photograph.html
Good On Ya!
Thanks for posting that link, bostnkid. A picture might be worth a thousand words, but what does it help if they are the wrong words?
The pic is sensational, but it wasn't photojournalism. You really don't get the true story. It shocks, it does not inform.
Being from Charlestown, I always knew the villians here were liberal politicians moving about poor whites and poor blacks, like pawns in a game. Especially Ted Kennedy who thought he could ride his brothers' names past any criticism.
Yeah. Right. Ted Kennedy was there...
...pulling all the strings making those thugs behave as they did at that rally. You just can't see the strings in the photograph.
I suppose you should blame Stanley Forman for not taking a sharp enough photograph to show them. Yeah. That's the ticket. Blame the photographer!
The people of Southie and Charlestown were just bigots using 'patriotic' language to justify their ignorance and prejudices. More recently, the same phenomena was apparent during their protests against marriage equality.
Ted Kennedy and 'Liberal politicians' had and have nothing to do with that bigotry!