Photographer Bill Hudson, who documented civil rights era, dies at 77 [Updated]

 
Bill Hudson, an Associated Press photographer whose searing images of the civil rights era documented police brutality and galvanized the public, died Thursday of congestive heart failure in Florida, according to his wife, the former Patricia Gantert. He was 77.

Hudson's most enduring image is of police turning their dogs loose on civil rights demonstrators in Birmingham, Ala., in 1963.

Hudson also worked for United Press International and several newspapers.

[update 4:30 p.m.] Click here to see the photo as it appeared in The Times on May 4, 1963.

More later at www.latimes.com/obits.

-- Associated Press

Top photo: Sheriff Bull Connor's officers with dogs attacking demonstrators in Birmingham, Ala., in May 1963. Credit: Bill Hudson / Associated Press

Bottom photo: Associated Press staff photographers Horace Cort, left, of Atlanta and Bill Hudson of Memphis pose in Birmingham, Ala., on May 13, 1963, at the scene of a bombing that set off rioting in the city's black neighborhoods. Credit: Associated Press

Comments

[fredyt3]

Thanks for sharing. Incredible, people who were sworn to serve releasing dogs on citizens who simply were attempting to vote and proclaim equal rights, and others claim "they want their country back".

[DR]

Thank you for your effort to record the atrocities committed ainst americans in amerikkka. You helped to change the course of history. RIP

[Nique_mil]

Mr. Hudson, thank you for exposing that horrible event to the rest of the world. You've done your part well.

[lescaine]

proof, a picture says a thousand words.

[candorguy]

It's hard to believe, forty seven years ago; America had a legal system of apartheid. As macabre as it is; sadly-- bigotry, racism and down right discrimination is part of the American culture. Read your history books lately? And, it still goes on today--this is nothing new. Although--a lot has changed for the better; racism in the land of the free--still exist. Don't let anyone tell you that racism is dead; in fact, it's quite the opposite. However, it's not as blatant as it once was. The KKK is a prime example. "Can't we all get along?"