Pulitzer-Winning Photographer of James Meredith Assassination Attempt Dies at 86

Jack Thornell, an Associated Press photographer renowned for his 1966 capture of the assassination attempt on civil rights leader James Meredith, has passed away at the age of 86. His son, Jay Thornell, confirmed that he died on Thursday in a Metairie, Louisiana hospital due to complications from kidney disease. Thornell's career with the Associated Press spanned from 1964 to 2004, during which he documented political events, natural disasters, and crime scenes. Notably, on his first day in the New Orleans bureau, he photographed a school integration on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi. His iconic image from Meredith's 1966 'March Against Fear' along U.S. Highway 51 shows Meredith on the ground, arms outstretched, while the gunman, Aubrey James Norvell, is partially visible. Meredith survived the attack, while Norvell served 18 months after pleading guilty. The march attracted over 15,000 participants, where Stokely Carmichael famously introduced the phrase 'Black Power.' Thornell also captured images of Martin Luther King Jr. during the 1965 Selma-to-Montgomery march and at protests by Memphis sanitation workers shortly before King's assassination.