Milton Brooks

Brooks was born on August 29, 1901, in St. Louis. His father, James W. Brooks, was also a newspaper reporter and "desk man".^[1] Brooks worked for the Chicago Daily News, the Chicago Herald-Examiner, New York Daily News, and Paramount News.^[2] From 1928 to 1953, he was a staff photographer for The Detroit News.^[1] He typically took one photograph per event, waiting for the most interesting thing to happen.^[2] After leaving The Detroit News, he became a commercial photographer. Physically, he was a stocky red-headed man, and he hobbied in boating.^[1] He died on September 3, 1956, aged 55, in Grosse Pointe Park, Michigan.^[3]

In 1942, Brooks won the inaugural Pulitzer Prize for Photography. The photograph, which he took on April 3, 1941,^[4] was named The Picket Line in an early mention,^[5] though came to be known as Ford Strikers Riot. It was taken during the 1941 workers' strike at the Ford River Rouge complex, and depicts strikers beating a strikebreaker, who is trying to protect himself by pulling his coat over his head and face.^[6] Brooks was awarded $500 by newspaperman Geoffrey Parsons for the photograph,^[7][8] as well as a $100 prize in the seventh Editor & Publisher photography contest on April 17.^[9][5]

Describing the circumstances surrounding the photo, Brooks said, "I took the picture quickly, hid the camera under my coat and ducked into the crowd. A lot of people would have liked to wreck that picture".^[10]