Ted Landsmark is a civil rights and community activist, attorney and advocate who shot to prominence as the subject of the 1977 Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph “The Soiling of Old Glory.” He is also a beloved educator in the School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs at Northeastern University and the namesake of the new Professor Ted Landsmark “Good Trouble” Award for the Best Project in Civil Rights History as part of National History Day.
The award, sponsored by the School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs, references the late civil rights activist and U.S. Rep. John Lewis’s quote to “never, ever be afraid to make some noise and get in good trouble, necessary trouble.” “This man is really ‘good trouble,’” Maria Ivanova, director of the School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs, said of Landsmark. “Really ‘good trouble’ every day. And twice on Sunday.” Three Needham High School students have created some ‘good trouble’ themselves—they visited Northeastern’s Boston campus on Wednesday to screen their documentary on the Tuskegee Syphilis Study and accept the inaugural Professor Ted Landsmark “Good Trouble” Award.
