Will Counts Captured The Little Rock Nine Photos That Shook The World
Visiting the Little Rock Nine Historic Site in Arkansas, contributor Jackie Sheckler Finch learns about the photographer who took the Little Rock Nine photos that shocked the world .
Born Ira Wilmer (Will) Counts Jr. on Aug. 24, 1931, to Little Rock tenant farmers, Will knew early on that he wanted to be a photojournalist. His mother gave him his first camera, a Kodak Brownie Hawkeye, during his junior year at Central High School.
The Photographer of the Little Rock Nine: Inspired by His Alma Mater
Less than a decade later, 26-year-old Will returned to his alma mater as a photographer for the Arkansas Democrat to cover the fiery desegregation efforts.
Will captured a stark image of 15-year-old Elizabeth Eckford walking alone through an angry mob as she tried to integrate Central High School.
Following closely on Elizabeth’s heels was 15-year-old Hazel Bryan, her face contorted as she spewed racial hatred.
“Elizabeth Eckford walking through that crowd with such dignity has been an inspiration to me,” Will Counts said when I interviewed him for the 1999 release of his new book, A Life is More Than a Moment: The Desegregation of Little Rock’s Central High.
The title of the book came from a comment by Hazel Bryan that her life was more than the one hateful moment that Will captured in his photo on Sept. 4, 1957.
On that catastrophic desegregation day, Will said he dressed inconspicuously as a local in a red plaid shirt and slacks to avoid looking like an out-of-town photographer recording the event on film.
Instead of a large Speed Graphic press camera that required reloading after each shot, Will carried a 35mm Nikon S2 camera that could shoot 36 exposures before reloading.
Will Counts’ Photos Shook The National Conscience
Getting close to the crowd, Will snapped his camera shutter as he saw the pandemonium surrounding the solitary Elizabeth Eckford and the hate-filled face of Hazel Bryan.
In the same month, Will took another landmark photo of a Black journalist named Alex Wilson being kicked in the face by a white man wielding a brick.
That photo is widely believed to be the reason President Eisenhower sent military troops to Little Rock to assist with desegregation.
Following photojournalist jobs at the Associated Press, Will joined the faculty of Indiana University in 1963 in Bloomington, Indiana. He earned his doctorate in education at IU and taught at IU for 32 years, retiring in 1995.
Will was credited with helping to develop one of the country’s best-regarded photojournalism departments. He died of cancer on Oct. 6, 2001, at age 70.
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Visiting Cental High School: Home of the Little Rock Nine Historic Site
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