claim: a photograph shows martin luther king jr. flipping the bird at a photographer.
question: did martin luther king jr. ‘flip the bird’ at a photographer?
origin: an old image purportedly showing martin luther king jr. showing his middle finger in an unmistakable gesture to a photographer was thrown back into circulation in may 2017 by the “classic pics” twitter account:
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  this image has been shared with a wide variety of commentary. for instance, it was once shared on the “old school cool” section of reddit as a picture of a “legend,” and the white supremacist web site daily stormer has used this image to paint king in a negative light. regardless of the original intent — the earliest iteration we could find was posted in january 2012 to a blogspot site on a page of random and unrelated images — this image is not a real photograph.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  the original photograph was taken on 19 june 1964, and showed king giving a peace sign (a hand gesture involving two fingers raised in a “v”) after hearing that the civil rights bill had passed the senate:
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  another image, purportedly showing martin luther king jr., barack obama, and malcolm x together, has also been popular on social media. like this image, that photograph is also fake.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
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comment: a photograph appearing to show the civil rights leader eloquently gesturing at a camera is a hoax.
summary: an old image purportedly showing martin luther king jr. showing his middle finger in an unmistakable gesture to a photographer was thrown back into circulation in may 2017. this image is not a real photograph. the original photograph was taken on 19 june 1964, and showed king giving a peace sign (a hand gesture involving two fingers raised in a “v”) after hearing that the civil rights bill had passed the senate.