This photo was taken by Horace Cort on June 18, 1964. It shows the owner of a hotel in St. Augustine, Florida pouring acid into the hotel's whites-only pool to force out Black and white protestors who were there to protest segregation. people swam in protest of the owner's whites-only pool policy, according to NPR. That protest "played a role in the passing of the Civil Rights Act," which the Senate approved the very next day after 83 days of filibustering.
The young woman in the bottom left in visible pain is Mimi Jones. She was 17 at the time. She was in the pool with talking and splashing around with other protesters when a furious James Brock, the hotel manager, dumped two bottles of potent muriatic acid into the water. "Jones could feel the fumes in her nose and eyes," according to The New York Times.
Police descended on the pool and forcefully removed the protesters. The next day, this photo was on the front pages of newspapers, including the Times and The Washington Post, according to the Times report.
"After seeing the photos, President Lyndon Johnson told an adviser: ''Our whole foreign policy and everything else will go to hell over this!' That same day, the Senate finally voted to pass the Civil Rights bill," the Times reported.
I chose this photo because it is an incredible example of how an image that perfectly captures a moment that is symbolic of a larger issue -- in this case, a white hotel-owner's racist attack on peaceful Black and white demonstrators -- can help to spur change. The callus hatred on display from the hotel owner and Jones crying out in pain make a lasting impression on the viewer.
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