29 Careers in Photojournalism - Charles Moore
The photojournalist I chose to focus on was Charles Moore. A man originally from the South, Moore rose to picture prominence beginning in 1962 when he began photographing the civil rights events occurring in Alabama. After failing to succeed in his photojournalist career in New York, he returned to his home state to find the fight for racial equality, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Moore found himself taking multiple pictures of Dr. King, including the one pictured below (Picture 1). The civil rights activist found himself being arrested for attempting to attend a hearing for another civil rights activist, and eventually being released after the police figuring out who he was.
Picture 1: MLK being arrested in front of his wife for trying to enter a hearing. (Photo/Caption credit: NPR/Charles Moore)
From the looks of his pictures, Moore was deeply involved in capturing the raw and shocking truth of the happenings in Alabama. Black people were being hosed down, assaulted by both racist whites and police dogs, and tirelessly marching for the right to be treated equally and with respect. He was behind the camera for a key moment in American history. In fact, according to Chapnick, he advised Moore himself to stay in Alabama to photograph the events, rather than continue to try and make it work in New York. The picture that Chapnick shared in the book is one of a black demonstrator getting attacked by a police dog during an anti-segregation protest (Picture 2). Multiple officers with their own dogs flood the scene, excessively using their corrupt authority to end the protest.
Picture 2: Police dogs attack a demonstrator outside an anti-segregation protest. (Photo/Caption credit: NPR/Charles Moore)
I found that this second picture, alongside Moore’s story, resonated with me because although these events happened in 1963, the rallies for racial equality still scream today. 2020 saw the Black Lives Matter movement taken ultimately seriously by society and media alike, as demonstrators marched the streets across the country and internationally. Moore’s pictures hold priceless value not only for capturing a time in history that must continually be remembered, but to showcase as a point to prove that despite all this time, change still needs to happen amongst state and federal government systems, societal normality, and most importantly, the mindsets of people.
