Portrait of Vernon Merritt. (Photo by Ralph Crane/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation)
“He was the epitome of a Southern gentleman,” said Bill Eppridge of Vernon Merritt (1940-2000). This apparently included having the courage to stand up to other Southerners. As just one example, when integration was ordered in Tuskegee, in his home state of Alabama, black students were bused to another town. Merritt got on one of the buses, and “when we got there, Sheriff Jim Clark came onboard. I had a couple of Nikons around my neck, and he snatched them off and whacked me with a cattle prod. I was shocked a few times and hit a couple of times and then thrown out on the street. I wound up in jail.” In Vietnam, he was shot by a sniper and paralyzed for months. Co Rentmeester was in Vietnam with him: “He was soft-spoken, but he was also a major daredevil. He was somewhat of a risk taker, which in the world of journalism and photography makes you successful.”
—Adapted from The Great LIFE Photographers
Photographer Vernon Merritt at work on an Apache Indian reservation. (Photo by Vernon Merritt/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation)
Model walking on the street in “New York” fashion. (Photo by Vernon Merritt/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation)
