Will Counts - Capturing the Fight for Justice

Born: August 24, 1931, Little Rock, Arkansas, U.S.A.
Died: October 6, 2001, Little Rock, Arkansas, U.S.A.

Will Counts was influential in helping to desegregate American schools.

Even if they don’t know his name, most Americans have seen the work of photographer Will Counts. His images of anger and violence during the 1950s school integration in Arkansas became some of the most famous photographs of the Civil Rights Movement.

Will Counts was born in Little Rock, Arkansas, on August 24, 1931, the son of tenant farmers during the Great Depression. As a teen, he knew he wanted to be a photojournalist after being inspired by his high school journalism teacher, Edna Middlebrooke. His mother gave him his first camera, a Kodak Brownie Hawkeye, in his junior year.

Counts earned his B.A. in education from Arkansas State Teachers College, working as a freelance photographer for the Arkansas Gazette and Arkansas Democrat to pay tuition. After earning his master’s degree at Indiana University, he returned home to continue freelancing for local papers. In 1957, less than 10 years after graduating from the all-white Little Rock Central High School, Counts would take his most famous photos, documenting the school’s tense desegregation.

After the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education ruling, Little Rock’s school board promised to integrate, but by 1957, it hadn’t happened. That September, nine Black students, later called the Little Rock Nine, enrolled at Central High. When they arrived on September 4, they faced a mob of angry white community members shouting threats.

Governor Orval Faubus stationed the Arkansas National Guard to block them. Many reporters came to cover the story, but some were arrested. Counts avoided trouble by dressing like an ordinary citizen and using his Nikon S2 camera, which let him take multiple shots without reloading.

One of his photographs, showing a Black student surrounded by jeering white students, appeared on the front page of The Arkansas Democrat and was reprinted nationwide. It became a defining image of the fight for civil rights, drawing national attention to Little Rock and fueling debate about school integration.

“It wasn’t just that they were photographs of beatings and confrontations,” wrote Jon Dilts, associate dean of Indiana University’s journalism school, in 1996. “It was that they were photographs made with the pain and pride and shame that only a southerner could bring to the story.”

Weeks later, Counts photographed Black journalist Alex Wilson being kicked in the face by a white man with a brick. This powerful image ran on front pages nationwide and won a National Press Photographer’s Association first-place award. It was later named one of the world’s 50 most memorable news photos by Encyclopedia Britannica. The image likely helped push President Dwight Eisenhower to send federal troops to protect the Little Rock Nine, allowing them to finally enter the school.

In 1957, the Pulitzer jury recommended Counts’ photos for a Pulitzer Prize. Although he was runner-up, his pictures became some of the most famous from that day, appearing in history books nationwide.

Counts went on to work for the Associated Press and later helped build top photojournalism programs at universities, including Indiana University. He published several books, including A Life is More Than a Moment, which documented the events at Central High. His work became the standard for photojournalism education, and his entire archive is now housed at Indiana University.

Despite his fame, Counts never sought personal glory. He focused on teaching, learning the names of all his students and encouraging them to take truthful, story-driven photographs. Many of his students went on to win major awards, including the Pulitzer Prize.

When Counts died from cancer in 2001, more than 100 former students attended his funeral. His coverage of the Little Rock crisis and his dedication to teaching continue to inspire new generations of photographers to document history through powerful visual storytelling.

References:
“University of Central Arkansas: UCA.” Will Counts, uca.edu/president/honorary-degrees/will-counts.
“Will Counts (1931–2001).” Encyclopedia of Arkansas, 20 Feb. 2025, encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/will-counts-470/.

Keywords:

Arts, Civil Rights, Courage, Perseverance, Responsibility, Freedom, Challenge Injustices, Face Prejudice

Explore ARTEFFECT projects about this Unsung Hero:
Will Counts Artworks