Cross Burned At University: A partially-burned cross stands at the edge of the University of Georgia campus in Athens. It was set ablaze by students demonstrating against a federal judge's order to admit two black students to the University. In the background, firemen climb aboard a truck after extinguishing the flames. There were no arrests.

Cross burning or cross lighting is a practice associated with the Ku Klux Klan, although the historical practice long predates the Klan's inception. It dates as far back as Peter of Bruys (1117–1131), who burned crosses in protest of the veneration of crosses. In the early 20th century, the Ku Klux Klan burned crosses on hillsides as a way to intimidate and threaten blacks and other people of color.

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

• Athens
• Broken barriers
• Civil Rights Movements
• Court Orders
• Cross burning
• Desegregation
• Education
• Fire engines
• Firefighters
• Injustice
• Ku Klux Klan
• Racial Discrimination
• Segregationists
• University of Georgia

• Image Dimensions: 7 5/8 x 10 3/8 in. (19.37 x 26.35 cm) Measured by Hudson, Karen
• Sheet Dimensions: 8 1/16 x 10 3/4 in. (20.48 x 27.31 cm) Measured by Hudson, Karen