The Soiling of Old Glory
Photographer: Stanley Forman
Date: April 5, 1976
Location: City Hall Plaza, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Stanley Forman photographed Joseph Rakes, a white 17-year-old student, attacking attorney and civil rights leader Ted Landsmark with a flagpole bearing an American flag during an anti-busing protest at Boston City Hall Plaza on April 5, 1976. Landsmark, then executive director of the Boston Contractors Association, was walking through the plaza to attend a meeting when he was surrounded by a group of anti-busing protesters. Rakes drove the flag's pole into Landsmark's face, breaking his nose. The photograph — showing the American flag used as a weapon against a Black man — became a searing indictment of racial violence and one of the most powerful American news photographs of the 20th century. Forman won his second consecutive Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Photography in 1977. Both Rakes and Landsmark later spoke publicly about reconciliation; they met in person in 2006. Landsmark said he held no ill will toward Rakes.
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