Bill Hudson

Who was Bill Hudson?

Bill Hudson was an American photojournalist for the Associated Press who was best known for his photographs taken in the Southern United States during the civil rights era. The depictions of police brutality against peaceful protesters that were seen in his widely published photographs helped push public support towards the civil rights movement.

Hudson was born in Detroit on August 20, 1932. He began his career as a photographer while serving in the United States Army during the Korean War. After leaving military service, he worked as a photographer at the Press-Register of Mobile, Alabama and The Chattanooga Times.

He was hired by the Memphis, Tennessee bureau of the Associated Press in 1962 and covered many widely reported events of the civil rights era, including protests — and the often-violent responses of the police — during the Birmingham campaign and in the Selma to Montgomery marches. His wife recounted that Hudson had been the target of bricks and rocks thrown at him by those who did not want him to photograph the African-American protests and the encounters they had with the police.