The Civil Rights Era in Pictures: 20 Images

Bill Hudson’s photograph of Walter Gadsden and the police dog is famous because every element in the frame feels dangerously close. The officer’s grip, the lunging dog, Gadsden’s arched body, the surrounding faces, all of it compresses the scene into a few unbearable seconds. It is not a distant crowd shot. It puts the viewer right at the point where authority becomes physical.