Zachary Pauley

FYS 100-210

Harold Blanco

7 March 2016

How a Picture Depicts a Society

The Civil Rights Movement was something that changed America forever and for the

better. Imagine looking at a photograph of a man getting his clothes ripped apart by attack dogs

and the Police being the ones instructing the dogs. You may think that the man was involved in

something illegal and they were trying to catch him. Now Imagine the same photograph but the

man being attacked is black and the policemen are white and this photo is from around the

1960s. Did your view change? The photograph described is one that shows our history and how

much our society has changed for the better by depicting the brutal ways blacks were treated in

America.

In this photograph, a crowd of African Americans are seen are the side of the road while

one African American is in the road being attacked by two police dogs. What is definitely

observed from the photo is that the police dogs were instructed to attack the man as police dogs

are highly trained and only do what their trainer or policeman instructs them to do. This

concludes that police wanted the group of African Americans to stay off to the side. This brings

up the question of why the man in the middle is separate and how he got into the positon of being

targeted and attacked. Some possibilities may be that he lashed out against the police’s orders or

he tried to engage the police in a threatening manner, but by the looks of the rest of the crowd of

African Americans, the group seems calm and peaceful. This shows how police brutality was

often based on the race of a person and this was not uncommon in this time period.

Also in this photograph is the assumptions that this was taken during a march or protest

of the civil rights movement. This is assumed because the police weren’t usually out with police

dogs unless something was going on. With this being during a march, this brings up how a strong

police presence was used for any protests that were part of the movement no matter how peaceful

they were. This shows how the police were given authority over the African Americans because

of race and brutality was a way for the police to show their authority. Often if a white man

provoked a black man enough to snap on the white man, then the black man was the one who

was punished and guilty. Police brutality was harsh and you can easily see that from any picture

of violence during the Civil Rights Movement.

The group on the side of the road is looking on to the man in the street being attacked

because they couldn’t do anything about it. They probably felt helpless because they knew that if

they tried to help the man being attacked, then they would have the same fate. Often if an

African American tried to show adversity to the police, then they were punished inhumanely and

convicted of a crime. The people on the side of the road felt helpless because they have probably

seen what has happened to people before when they would try to help someone and show

resistance to the police.

To conclude, the photograph shows how brutal the Civil Rights Movement was at times

and how much our society has changed from them. This photo also shows how brave African

Americans were at that time for peacefully protesting for what was right against adversity and

the law. This photo is important to our history because of how it depicts an imperfect American

society in the 1960s that would change our society and people forever.