Kennedy 1 Billy Kennedy Dr.

Erin Dietel-McLaughlin Multimedia Writing & Rhetoric, Section 13 9 October 2013 The Skewed Intentions of American Authority through Rhetorical Elements of 1960s Photography In the height of the United States Civil Rights Movement in the early 1960s, many regions of America were plagued with the unequal treatment of and discrimination against the African-American community. Given inferior voting rights, and even separated from the whites when it came to the public education system, the black community experienced prolonged periods of inferior public services and essential rights. In time, the black community would pool their presence together in the form of nonviolent protests throughout the United States. Although many of the black movements of the early 1960s were free of white retaliation, several cities erupted into violence. In 1963, Birmingham, Alabama experienced what is now known as the Birmingham Campaign, where the presence of the black protests broke out in conflict (Birmingham). Capturing scenes from the confrontations of the Birmingham Campaign, Charles Moore and his photography exposed the outbreak of chaos that occurred in Alabama during the Spring of 1963. One particular untitled photograph of Charles Moores depicts a black man being attacked by police dogs and surrounded by law enforcers while bystanders gaze at the incident. Drawing from Charles Moores photograph, we can derive a sense of the skewed authority present in America during the Civil Rights Movement. Through the rhetorical visual elements of the photograph and how blacks and whites are depicted in context with one another, we are presented with an image that reflects the misguided administration of the era, inducing an ashamed emotion in the viewer.

Kennedy 2 In the position of authority, the policemen are asserting their power and authority at the time, and their presentation reveals to what degree they took malicious action, yet did not receive blame. Although armed with bayonets and police dogs, the policemen consist of less than a third of the characters present in Moores photograph, yet they appear to have total control and authority over the blacks present in the background and the man who is being attacked. Even the presence of the police dogs inspires an atmosphere of induced fear in the photograph. For example, not only does the image depict two dogs, under the leash and control of a policeman, biting at the surrounded black civilians clothes, but the remaining two dogs in the foreground supplement the animalistic authority of the policemen due to the way their heads are turned relative to their holders; one dog stares directly out at the viewer with its respective policeman looking to the viewers left, while the other dogs draws their attention to the right of the photograph as its policeman returns the gaze of the bystanders in the background. Not only does having the dogs present in the photograph depict what inhumane degree of enforcement is being taken by the authorities, but the subtle difference of where the dogs are looking attests to the surveillance and influence of the policemen, who inspire respect through fear. Although the policeman and his dog are one travelling unit, they have two sets of eyes to exponentially state authority. Addressing the gazes of policemen specifically, we have an idea as to where they are looking due to the orientation of their heads, yet many of the identifying facial features of the policemen remain concealed due to the viewers perspective. Although we can see the grasp of a policemans hands around the leash of the dog that bares its teeth at the black civilian being attacked, we cannot associate the malicious deed with a face. Similarly, the policeman in the foreground has his face cut out from the pictures canvas from the bottom of the eyes up, completely inhibiting the viewer of seeing any recognizable facial features. As for other authority figures in the photograph, their distance from the camera, or the shadow their hats

Kennedy 3 produce over their faces, conceal them amongst the crowd. By the way this image is rhetorically composed, the viewer is unable to identify the true culprit of the crime taking place due to the absence of facial exposure from the policemen. The absence of visual responsibility on the part of the white policemen endorses the scandalous actions of the local authority at the time, and how they felt they could get away with their actions. Even looking back at this historic photograph today, the degree of shame is reduced by the absence of identity. Furthermore, this lack of integrity in the policemen brings an ashamed feeling to the viewer due to the lack of trust we find in a group we expect to rely on today. However, one could argue that the policemen are simply doing their jobs, and it would be an offense to prevent them from doing so. The fact that situations like the Birmingham Campaign occurred forced America to realize that something was wrong, and made them reconsider their thinking. On the human-to-human scale of interaction, everyone, whether black or white, racist or not, recognizes that courses of action need to be changed when current scenarios escalate to violence. The brutality of slavery forced America to recognize its unsustainable nature, causing a revision of the constitution to amend the flawed ideals of the authority figures of the day. Despite the changes, nearly 100 years later, racial tensions still escalated to violence, forcing us to reconsider the ideals of the authority figures in the photograph as the viewers. While our true opinions of the policemen may be undermined due to their physical obscurity to the viewer, how the African-Americans are depicted substantiates the sense of intimidation the policemen stimulate in the photograph. Enclosed by attacking dogs at both ends, the black victim who is having his clothes torn apart does not even acknowledge the dog that is biting him from behind during this moment. Again, we return to the line-of-sight theme present in this photograph and how in this portion of the shot, it reveals the victims physical impairment to defend himself from the actions of the policemen; the policemen have

Kennedy 4 overpowered the victim to an extent that he cannot even find the direction to remotely defend himself. Inspiring this hateful authority from multiple angles with the ruthlessness of attacking dogs at bay renders the victim helpless in front of his on looking bystanders. The crowd of African-Americans staring at the situation from the background also represents the sense of inspired fear from the authorities at that moment. Although the group of AfricanAmericans in the background are witnessing one of their own being abused by the hand of authority, they return the gaze of the adversity taking place; instead of fleeing the scene out of fear, or retaliating further, the blacks not only stay at the stage of dispute, but their eyes all indicate that they continue to witness the abuse. Whether it be due to an order from the policemen, or out of their own will, their continued presence itself evokes a sense of induced submission. Through the composure of the African-Americans, we can derive a sense of how the policemen mentally slash at their rights through public demonstration. In The History and Theory of Rhetoric, James Herrick talks about how, Rhetoric is also a form of psychological power, that is, the power to shape the thinking of other peoplewe may change the way people think simply by altering the symbolic framework they employ to organize their thinking (Herrick 19). Charles Moores photograph accentuates this claim as it shows not only the psychological power the policemen have over the African-Americans through inspired fear and submission, but it also affects the viewer psychologically by disrupting their trust and judgment of authority. From the portrayal of both the policemen and the African-Americans in the photograph, much can be deciphered as to how fear and authority are both inspired and received. However, besides analyzing the different classes individually, the visual also offers an instance that we can use to explore both groups in context with one another. Jay David Bolter and Richard Grusin explain how being able to see a true moment as it really was, is one of photographys great strengths. In Remediation: Understanding New Media, Bolter and

Kennedy 5 Grusin state, For those who believe in the immediacy of photography the contact point is the light that is reflected from the objects on to the film. This light establishes an immediate relationship between the photograph and the object (Bolter 30). We can see how the medium of photography provides an intimacy that allows us to analyze to the very instant. For example, in Moores photograph, the physical location of the two classes in reference to each other within the photograph manifests the previous idea of the authority exploiting power through public demonstration. In the photograph, we can see how the police officers form a ring around the central victim, restricting him from the outside of their enclosure, where the rest of the black civilians are. Not only does this formation break up the unity of the black community present in the scene, but the fact that some officers look inwards and some look outwards portrays a sense of simultaneous demonstration and surveillance. Used together, these aspects solidify the dual intentions of harm and submission that the viewer can extract from the photograph. Charles Moores image offers many visual rhetorical elements that can accentuate the misleading motives and honor that the local authority figures held during the height of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. His photography captured some of the most revealing actions of the white authority of the time, showing how the line preventing the AfricanAmericans from truly equal rights was still very large and thick. It was not until a year after this photograph was taken, until the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed, that blacks within America had equal voting rights, and legal acts of segregation and racial discrimination were abolished. The visual artifacts that we still hold on to today from these events direct attention to the ideals of leadership and authority in society. This past allows a nation now free of legal racial abuse to strive for a higher degree of honor and righteousness in an attempt to rid our chosen future of any hanging heads in shame for past actions.

Kennedy 6 Works Cited "Birmingham Campaign (1963)." Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Global Freedom Struggle. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Oct. 2013. Bolter, Jay David, and Richard Grusin. "Immediacy, Hypermediacy, and Remediation." Remediation: Understanding New Media. N.p.: MIT, 2000. 20-50. Print. Herrick, James A. The History and Theory of Rhetoric. 2nd ed. N.p.: Allyn & Bacon, 2001. Print. Moore, Charles. 1963. Photograph. The Snite Museum of Art, Notre Dame.