This document contains my Alternative Task 2 (Photograph Analysis) which requires an in depth analysis of a photograph that is linked to the Grade 12 History curriculum. It was written in 2021 using the criteria of the History SAGS document. I received 90% for this task.
A photograph taken by Bill Hudson on May 2, 1993 depicting Parker High School student, Walter
Gadsden being attacked by police dogs during youth mass demonstrations in Birmingham, Alabama,
USA. This photograph was published in The New York Times on 4 May 1963.
[Taken from: https://en.wikipedia.org/. 2021. Birmingham campaign dogs
[image] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Birmingham_campaign_dogs.jpg >
[Accessed 13 March 2021].
, 1. Historical Context
The broad local historical context is the US Civil Rights Movement. The Civil Rights
Movement was a struggle for justice and equality for African Americans that took place
mainly in the 1950s and 1960s. It was an organised effort by Americans to end racial
discrimination and gain equal rights under the law. Although tumultuous at times, the
movement was mostly nonviolent and resulted in laws to protect every American’s
constitutional rights, regardless of colour, race, sex, or national origin.
The long-term event that led to this photograph was the “Jim Crow”1 laws in the south which
kept black people in subjection and some even spread beyond the south. Segregation was
widespread in the south and from 1896, became accepted following the Plessy vs Ferguson
case. The Supreme Court ruled that segregation was constitutional provided facilities were
equal. This was the “Separate but equal”2 doctrine. Black people were segregated in schools,
parks, hospitals, swimming pools, libraries and other public places.Consequently, In the
early 1960s, Birmingham was one of the most racially divided cities in the United States,
both as enforced by law and culturally. Black citizens faced legal and economic disparities,
and violent retribution when they attempted to draw attention to their problems. As such,
non- violent demonstrations such as marches, sit-ins, freedom rides and demonstrations
sought to focus national attention on segregation in the south and to gain support for civil
rights. For example, The 1955 Montgomery bus boycott aimed to desegregate buses and
achieved its objective in that Alabama federal district declared segregation on buses
unconstitutional. In the 1960s, sit-ins protested against white-only facilities in stores and as
a result, lunch counters in Nashville and many other towns were desegregated. The 1961
Freedom riders wanted segregation on buses and stations dismantled and to bring media
attention and pressurise the government to change laws in the South. Freedom rides
resulted in interstate travel being officially desegregated. 3Although there were steps that
challenged the deep-rooted racism in the South, there was still no federal law that made
1
Woodward, C. Vann and McFeely, William S. (2001), The Strange Career of Jim Crow. p. 7
2
Groves, Harry E. (1951). "Separate but Equal--The Doctrine of Plessy v. Ferguson". Phylon. 12 (1): 66–72.
doi:10.2307/272323
3
328 U.S. 373 (1946); also Morgan v. Virginia. Law.cornell.edu. Archivedfrom the original on February 17, 2012. Retrieved
December 12, 2011.
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