Leighanne Guettler-James: Assignment 4

Bill Hudson took this astounding photograph on May 4, 1963, during the heat of the Civil rights movement in the U.S. This picture shocked and horrified people from the black and white communities alike and played a major role in stimulating the change that would come years later. What is so shocking about this picture is the lack of resistance that you see from the boy, Walker Gadsden, a highschool student at the time and the very visible violence of the dog wielded by the officer. This exposed the one-sidedness of the violence towards African Americans that many had to experience. The black community was already rioting due to the injustice of the American system and the white community started to join due to this realization that African American people were harmless and were being assaulted nonetheless.