By Julianna Petchak
“The Spirit of America,” a photograph made by LSUS graduate Cindy Williams (B.A. journalism, ‘00), hangs in homes around the country, including the White House.
Williams said she left a career in journalism last year to market her now-famous photograph across the United States. The photograph was taken by accident as Williams was making photos of the Community Pride Flag Complex in Marshall, Texas, after the 9/11 terrorists attacks. She was photographing many flags around that time, she said, to show the patriotism being displayed in the South.
The wind was blowing and the flags were waving. Williams took a shot from underneath one of the flags, unaware of how special this photo would turn out to be. When the film was developed, she was shocked to see the flag in the formation of a stealth jet.
Her first thought when seeing the photograph was of the jets that crashed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center, she said, and she put the photo away.
“Weeks later,” she said, “I heard President Bush on the radio announcing that the United States was going to war against terrorism to defend our freedom, and I thought of the photograph.”
Oct. 6 marked the first anniversary of the date Williams made the photograph. Williams said her life completely changed during the past year. She quit her job with The Times and currently devotes seven days a week to marketing the photograph.
Williams visited ground zero on Sept. 11 and distributed prints of the photo to family members of the victims, policemen and firefighters. She has sold prints at the Olympics in Salt Lake City and at air shows.
“The photograph has touched a lot of people. Some have literally broken down and cried,” Williams said. “Many have relatives in the military who are fighting for our freedom.”
Sales of the prints have allowed Williams to donate to POW and MIA organizations, veterans of war organizations, and to military groups.