Q. How did this photograph of Emmett Till advance the cause of civil rights?

A. Emmett Till, an African American boy, was 14 years old in 1954 when he was brutally beaten and shot to death by two white men who claimed he flirted with a white woman while visiting relatives in Mississippi. Emmett’s mother showed immense courage at the time by electing to keep Emmett’s casket open to viewers at his funeral so that the badly destroyed face of her teenage boy could be seen by the public. Public shock turned to outrage, and the injustice could no longer be ignored. The pictures of Emmett Till in his casket, which were widely circulated at the time, helped to draw attention to the extremes of southern racism, and remain an important turning point in the history of the civil rights movement.

The contribution of photography to social movements is significant. It is now almost impossible to think of a news story that is not supported with a photograph or video and these can often be more powerful in their influence than the written word.

What was the last news photo you saw that left a lasting impression on you or changed the way you thought about something?