On February 23, 1945, four US Marines raised an American flag amid the burnt rubble and twisted steel wreckage atop Mount Suribachi on the Pacific island of Iwo Jima, caught in the act by photographer Joe Rosenthal, and one of the most iconic photographs ever taken was created, making today
NATIONAL PHOTOJOURNALISM DAY!
Photojournalists go where it isn’t safe to go, armed only with cameras, courage and a determination to show the world what’s going on.
This iconic Iwo Jima shot reassured a war-weary America that victory was near. The surreal photo of the burning Hindenburg Zeppelin in New Jersey horrified the world, while images of skeletal children with swollen bellies in Biafra galvanized the world to act.
Who can forget the magazine cover photograph of that Vietnamese general shooting his handcuffed prisoner in the head, or hippies sticking flowers in the gun barrels of National Guardsmen in Berkeley, two images that turned America against the Vietnam War?
Photographs of fellow Americans being set upon by German Shepherds and fire hoses enraged a nation and helped pass the Civil Rights Act, while the image of the burning Twin Towers brought tears of rage. The beheadings of photojournalists by terrorists drive home the chances taken by these courageous people every day. Some pictures are worth a million words, and some people are willing to risk all to show them to the world.
•Suggested Activities: Flipping through old Life Magazines.