National guardsman stands watch as firemen combat a blaze that broke out in a building near the Yale campus in New Haven following the second day of a Black Panther support rally. The building is across the street from the court house where Panther Bobby Seale is due to be tried.

New Haven Black Panther trials: In 1970, there was a series of criminal prosecutions in New Haven, Connecticut against various members of the Black Panther Party. The charges ranged from criminal conspiracy to felony murder. All indictments stemmed from the murder of 19-year-old Alex Rackley in the early hours of May 21, 1969. In all, nine defendants were indicted on charges related to the case, including National Party Chairman Bobby Seale. In the heated political rhetoric of the day, these defendants were referred to as the "New Haven Nine", a deliberate allusion to other cause-celebré defendants like the "Chicago Seven". The trials became a rallying-point for the American Left and marked a decline in public support, even among the black community, for the Black Panther Party.

On recto: typewritten title and date.
On verso: date stamp.

Wire photographs were originally transmitted over phonelines, then later, by satellite. They were first used in the early 1920s. Associated Press became a leader with this. After pigment touch-ups, etc., the print is put into a drum (like a drum scanner). The image gets converted into audio tones that are transmitted. The tones are received and beamed onto photo-sensitive paper. Wire photographs are copies without originals---they are hybrid, transmitted objects. (Britt Salvesen, Curator and Department Head, Photography Department, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, March 30-31, 2022)

This object has the following keywords:

• Alex Rackley
• Black Panthers
• Civil Rights Movements
• Conspiracy
• Fire engines
• Firefighters
• Fires
• Guardsmen
• Injustice
• Murder
• National Guard
• New Haven
• New Haven Black Panther Trials
• Racial Discrimination
• Rallies
• Yale University

• Image Dimensions: 7 15/16 x 10 5/16 in. (20.16 x 26.19 cm) Measured by Hudson, Karen
• Sheet Dimensions: 8 1/8 x 10 11/16 in. (20.64 x 27.15 cm) Measured by Hudson, Karen