Podcast: Acclaimed News Photographer Stanley Forman (Beverly) – 3 Time Pulitzer Prize Winner – Covers Local Stories

BEVERLY (Podcast) Stanley Forman has had a remarkable career as a photojournalist. He has won three Pulitzer Prizes and continues to be active every day in taking photos for news for enjoyment. In this podcast he shares many stories on his career in photography including his Pulitzer Prize winning photos and the photos he continues to take here on the north shore. The resident of Beverly grew up in Revere and has worked for the Boston Herald and WCVB-TV. This week he will be speaking at the Beverly Historical Society’s annual meeting. A Zoom registration link is available, below. This post includes some of Forman’s work and a link to his website that is packed with additional information and photos. Forman and his wife Debbie recently wrote a children’s book this past year on Shoebert, Beverly’s famous seal. (Link below) Forman discusses all of these topics and many more in today’s podcast.

Stanley Forman – Photojournalist with Bill Newell

Additional Information

Stanley Forman’s Website

Beverly Historical Society Annual Meeting, 3/15 – Attend via Zoom – To Register – Click Here

Book – Shoebert’s Great Adventure Click Here by Stanley and Debbie Forman

Pulitzer Prize Winning Photos

On July 22, 1975 in Boston, a 19-year-old and her 2-year-old goddaughter were trapped in a burning building. A firefighter, Robert O’Neill, shielded them from the flames as an aerial ladder inched closer. Then the fire escape collapsed. Although the woman died from her injuries, the infant survived. Fire Escape Collapse circulated around the world. The photo led to the passage of new fire escape legislation across the country. It provided Stanley Forman with his first of two Pulitzer Prizes for spot news photography.

The photograph depicts a white teenager, Joseph Rakes, about to assault black lawyer and civil-rights activist Ted Landsmark with a flagpole bearing the American flag. It was taken in Boston on April 5, 1976, during a protest against court-ordered desegregation busing. It ran on the front page of the Herald American the next day, and also appeared in several newspapers across the country. It won the 1977 Pulitzer Prize for Spot Photography.

Book about the Photo

“Louis Masur has written an indispensable history about an unforgettable image. With admirable empathy and grace, he reveals why racial conflict in modern America is both so compelling and so difficult to resolve.”

-Micheal Kazin, author of a Godley Hero: The Life of William Jennings Bryant