Demonstrators near Boston City Hall in 1976 protest court-ordered school busing
August 2, 2016
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The Pulitzer Centennial
The effects of power may be obvious—high office, laws, riches, regulations, even life and death—but power itself is only an idea, one that journalists have long struggled to describe. For a century, Pulitzer-winning works—some of the best journalism ever produced—have readily confronted the powerful, and constantly held power to account. As the Pulitzer Prize celebrates its centennial year, Nieman Reports takes a look at a century of Pulitzer journalism speaking truth to power, setting the tone for another 100 years of remarkable work. Our Summer 2016 issue also highlights forgotten Prize-winning works worth remembering, an examination of competing news outfits teaming up to do watchdog stories—including many that have won the Pulitzer, and the business reporting at the core of much Pulitzer journalism.
Forman won the Pulitzer for Spot News Photography two years in a row, the second time, in 1977, for “The Soiling of Old Glory.” In a recent interview, he talks about the photo—taken at a demonstration against court-ordered desegregation busing in Boston—one that captures a defining moment of race relations in America.
It was an ugly time in Boston, an ugly time in the country, and anti-busing demonstrations were commonplace. The day I captured that photo started with a routine question and a routine answer. I got into the office early and asked the city editor what was going on. He said there was an anti-busing demonstration outside City Hall so, I asked if I could go. After running an errand, I headed over to the plaza.
Forman and his two Pulitzer-winning photographs
As I arrived, some anti-busing demonstrators were coming out of the building following a meeting with City Councilor Louise Day Hicks, a staunch opponent to court-ordered busing and school desegregation. At the same time, a group of black students was getting ready to go on a tour of City Hall, and the two groups got into a scuffle on the steps. As some of them moved away from the courthouse, Ted Landsmark, a black attorney on his way to a meeting, happened to be caught in the melee and was assaulted by Joseph Rakes, a white teenager participating in the demonstration. Rakes used the flag he was carrying as a weapon, a moment I captured on film.
The photo is misleading. Rakes looks like he is using the flag as a lance, and that Landsmark is being held by another man as a target, but Rakes wasn’t trying to stab the attorney. He was swinging the pole, and the other man was actually trying to get Landsmark out of harm’s way. It is nonetheless a racially charged photo, whites attacking blacks. But I had no clue I had gotten such a powerful shot.
Police broke up the fighting, and the anti-busing demonstrators made their way through downtown. I stayed with them, not realizing the magnitude of the altercation at City Hall until a reporter came up to me and asked if I had heard what happened. I told him I had been there taking photos, and he exclaimed, “What? They’re going crazy! Get to the office.”
I think “The Soiling of Old Glory” would have had a greater impact today. If there’s a shot like that nowadays, it could start a riot. Rakes would have gone to jail. I’d be afraid to have taken it.
The Pulitzer Centennial
The effects of power may be obvious—high office, laws, riches, regulations, even life and death—but power itself is only an idea, one that journalists have long struggled to describe. For a century, Pulitzer-winning works—some of the best journalism ever produced—have readily confronted the powerful, and constantly held power to account. As the Pulitzer Prize celebrates its centennial year, Nieman Reports takes a look at a century of Pulitzer journalism speaking truth to power, setting the tone for another 100 years of remarkable work. Our Summer 2016 issue also highlights forgotten Prize-winning works worth remembering, an examination of competing news outfits teaming up to do watchdog stories—including many that have won the Pulitzer, and the business reporting at the core of much Pulitzer journalism.
