lust for life

rosa parks

I thought this front page was excellent — very effective. Simple and powerful.

The headline on the website reads, “She sat down & stood tall.”

October 25th, 2005 | Category: Journalism | Subscribe to comments | Leave a comment | Trackback URL

3 Responses to “rosa parks”

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   Carl [74/M1I] :
   October 25th, 2005 at 16:59:40 +0000

   Derek, I thought that was an effective A-1 Tab, too. But what have readers been saying? I could imagine a fairly vocal few who might be offended that you chose to recall Parks with a mug shot, even with the supportive subhed pushing the jump.

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   derek rose [Q3B+M3] :
   October 25th, 2005 at 19:01:17 +0000

   Hmm. I haven’t heard any complaints, but they wouldn’t come in to me, either. (I had nothing to do with any of the Parks coverage).

   With headlines like, “Her act of courage changed America” and “Defiance defined a noble cause,” I can’t imagine anyone but the most hypersensitive raising a fuss.

   P.S.: Newsday’s front page was very good, too. I love tabloids.

   P.P.S.: Well, we got at least one complaint:

   A slap in the face
   Manhattan: I was appalled when I saw that the Daily News featured Rosa Parks’ mug shot as a tribute to her life on page one of the Oct. 25 edition. The movement that would change the condition of African-Americans in the United States began in the heart of this woman, who showed courage and resolve with grace and dignity. The photograph did not reflect the heart of this woman. Choosing this picture from the innumerable photographs that have been taken of her over the past 50 years was not only insulting and offensive to her memory, but demeaned the great contribution she made to society.
   Helen Downing

   Well said, but I have to disagree … it’s a mugshot, yes, but still a dignified photo of Parks, IMHO. She’s well-dressed, well-groomed, facing a difficult situation with equanimity. And the reason she was a national figure was because of an arrest, so the photo makes sense to me.

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   Carl [74/M1I] :
   October 28th, 2005 at 10:31:28 +0000

   I knew the other shoe would fall. As much as I liked the irony (in a tab!) of juxtaposing the mugshot with the kind epitaph, I knew there would be many opposed to anything so subtle or effective.

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