On this day, April 5, 1976, a photographer in Boston, Massachusetts, took this picture.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Reposted by It Would Be A Gusher For The Popehat
https://bsky.app/profile/kenwhite.bsky.social

Eric Rauchway
‪@rauchway.bsky.social‬

one of the great journalistic photographs of US history

‪Andy Lewis/The Optionist‬
‪@andyblewis.bsky.social‬
· 4h

Fifty years ago today, the shame of my hometown

The famous photo of a white man holding an American flag like a spear as he seemingly attacks a Black man during an anti-busing protest in Boston on April 5, 1976
ALT
3:24 PM · Apr 5, 2026

one of the great journalistic photographs of US history

— Eric Rauchway (@rauchway.bsky.social) 2026-04-05T19:24:15.796Z

Andy Lewis/The Optionist
‪@andyblewis.bsky.social‬

Fifty years ago today, the shame of my hometown

The famous photo of a white man holding an American flag like a spear as he seemingly attacks a Black man during an anti-busing protest in Boston on April 5, 1976
ALT
3:10 PM · Apr 5, 2026

Fifty years ago today, the shame of my hometown

— Andy Lewis/The Optionist (@andyblewis.bsky.social) 2026-04-05T19:10:03.430Z

Doc Democracy 🇨🇦
‪@docdemocracy.bsky.social‬

https://www.kcur.org/2016-09-19/life-after-iconic-1976-photo-the-american-flags-role-in-racial-protest

Life After Iconic 1976 Photo: The American Flag's Role In Racial Protest
A Pulitzer Prize-winning photo taken during the busing desegregation protests captured a nation. The photographer and subject of "The Soiling of Old Glory" talk about its significance 40 years on.
www.kcur.org
4:16 PM · Apr 5, 2026

www.kcur.org/2016-09-19/l...

— Doc Democracy 🇨🇦 (@docdemocracy.bsky.social) 2026-04-05T20:16:24.695Z

Life After Iconic 1976 Photo: The American Flag's Role In Racial Protest
NPR | By NPR Staff
Published September 19, 2016 at 5:31 PM CDT


Stanley Forman/Boston Herald American

"The Soiling of Old Glory" was taken on April 5, 1976, during the Boston busing desegregation protests.

We all know the photo: It captures the rage, division and the racial tension from 40 years ago that is still so present now in our country.

Titled "The Soiling of Old Glory," the photo won a Pulitzer Prize for breaking news photography. Stanley Forman took the picture on April 5, 1976, for what was then the Boston Herald American.

"For the time (it) has everything you want in the picture," says Forman. If you've seen the picture, it's hard to forget. A young, white man lunges at a black man with the sharp point of a flagpole, with the American flag attached.

Forman remembers the day clearly.

{snip}

Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Corrected: September 18, 2016 at 11:00 PM CDT

A previous version of this story misspelled Stanley Forman's last name as Foreman.

Sat Jun 20, 2015: Here's a White guy about to stab a Black guy in the chest with an American Flag.

[Mister Ed]

1. If only that were the only such moment.

The black-and-white images from my youth that spring to my mind are images of police dogs, fire hoses, Pettus Bridge.

Images of James Meredith writhing in agony on the pavement after being shot, of the bodies of men grotesquely tortured and lynched...and on and on and on.

[cab67]

2. I've never been convinced the flag holder was aiming at the man of color seen in the photo.

The African-American man is further in the background, and the flag holder seems to be aiming at something or someone in front of him - meaning he'd be passing by the African-American man in the photo.

I am NOT, in any way, saying the flag holder was innocent or anything like that. I know the back story of these protests, and his actions were as disgraceful and racist then as they are now.