The Soiling of Old Glory

The Soiling of Old Glory is a Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph taken by Stanley Forman during the Boston busing crisis in 1976.

[1] It depicts a white teenager, Joseph Rakes, assaulting a black man—lawyer and civil rights activist Ted Landsmark—with a flagpole bearing the American flag (also known as Old Glory).

[2] Landsmark had recently been an activist for more minority contractors in the construction industry, but was not involved with the busing protests.

[3] According to Landsmark, "I had difficulty finding a parking space in downtown Boston, and I was running a few minutes late for the meeting in city hall.

[7] Rakes carried the stigma of being known as "the flag kid", but eventually married and had children while laboring as a construction worker and later in hazardous waste.