''The Soiling of Old Glory'' is a

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...

-winning photograph taken by

Stanley Forman Stanley Joseph Forman (born July 10, 1945) is an American photojournalist, who won the Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Photography two years in a row while working at the '' Boston Herald American''. Biography A native of Winthrop, Massachusett ...

during the

Boston busing crisis The desegregation of Boston public schools (1974–1988) was a period in which the Boston Public Schools were under court control to desegregate through a system of busing students. The call for desegregation and the first years of its implemen ...

in 1976. It depicts a white teenager, Joseph Rakes, assaulting a black man—lawyer and

civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life of ...

activist

Ted Landsmark Theodore "Ted" Carlisle Landsmark (born May 17, 1946) is an American educator and lawyer. Landsmark is currently Distinguished Professor of Public Policy and Urban Affairs and Director of the Kitty and Michael Dukakis Center for Urban and Regiona ...

—with a flagpole bearing the American flag (also known as

Old Glory Old Glory is a nickname for the flag of the United States. The original "Old Glory" was a flag owned by the 19th-century American sea captain William Driver (March 17, 1803 – March 3, 1886), who flew the flag during his career at sea an ...

). The image was taken for the '' Boston Herald American'' in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

, on April 5, 1976, during one in a series of protests against court-ordered desegregation busing. It ran on the front page of the ''Herald American'' the next day, and also appeared in several newspapers across the country. It won the

1977 Pulitzer Prize The following are the Pulitzer Prizes for 1977. Journalism awards *Public Service: **The '' Lufkin News'' (Texas), for an obituary of a local man who died in Marine training camp, which grew into an investigation of that death and a fundamental r ...

for Spot Photography. Landsmark had recently been an activist for more minority contractors in the construction industry, but was not involved with the busing protests. 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. So I was in a hurry and perhaps not paying as much attention as I might have as I approached a corner, where the young demonstrators were coming in the other direction. I did not see them until both they and I were at that corner." Rakes was swinging the flag in an attempt to strike Landsmark, not attempting to spear him as it appears in the photo, and narrowly missed. Landsmark had already been knocked to the ground, losing his glasses and suffering a broken nose, by the time the picture was taken. In the most widely-produced photo, it also appeared that the man behind Landsmark is holding him down. However, the man, identified as anti-busing activist

Jim Kelly James Edward Kelly (born February 14, 1960) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 11 seasons with the Buffalo Bills. He also spent two seasons with the Houston Gamblers of the United State ...

, was actually helping Landsmark to his feet, and later stepped in front to protect the man from further injury. Rakes was convicted of assault with a deadly weapon and sentenced to two years' imprisonment and two years' probation. The jail sentence was suspended. In 1983, Rakes assaulted his sister's boyfriend, who later died from the injuries sustained in the attack. He fled prosecution, but returned in 1988 after the murder charge was dropped. 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.

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