{"id":5354340,"date":"2019-10-18T17:30:50","date_gmt":"2019-10-18T17:30:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.life.com\/?post_type=photographer&p=5354340"},"modified":"2019-10-22T20:00:48","modified_gmt":"2019-10-22T20:00:48","slug":"vernon-merritt","status":"publish","type":"photographer","link":"https:\/\/www.life.com\/photographer\/vernon-merritt\/","title":{"rendered":"Vernon Merritt"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n \"Portrait\n
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<\/p>\n

Portrait of Vernon Merritt. (Photo by Ralph Crane\/The LIFE Picture Collection \u00a9 Meredith Corporation)<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

“He was the epitome of a Southern gentleman,” said <\/span>Bill Eppridge<\/span><\/a> 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. <\/span>Co Rentmeester <\/span><\/a>was in Vietnam with him: \u201cHe 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.”<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014<\/span>Adapted from <\/span>The Great LIFE Photographers<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\n \"Photographer\n
\n

<\/p>\n

Photographer Vernon Merritt at work on an Apache Indian reservation. (Photo by Vernon Merritt\/The LIFE Picture Collection \u00a9 Meredith Corporation)<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n

\n \"Model\n
\n

<\/p>\n

Model walking on the street in “New York” fashion. (Photo by Vernon Merritt\/The LIFE Picture Collection \u00a9 Meredith Corporation)<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n<\/blockquote>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“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 … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":5355712,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5354340","photographer","type-photographer","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Photography of Vernon Merritt | LIFE<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Learn about Vernon Merritt, one of the many photographers for LIFE who captured some of the most iconic pictures from the US & around the World.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.life.com\/photographer\/vernon-merritt\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Photography of Vernon Merritt | LIFE\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Learn about Vernon Merritt, one of the many photographers for LIFE who captured some of the most iconic pictures from the US & around the World.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.life.com\/photographer\/vernon-merritt\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"LIFE\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-10-22T20:00:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.life.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/18173021\/00821189-e1571419821690.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"522\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.life.com\/photographer\/vernon-merritt\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.life.com\/photographer\/vernon-merritt\/\",\"name\":\"The Photography of Vernon Merritt | LIFE\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.life.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.life.com\/photographer\/vernon-merritt\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.life.com\/photographer\/vernon-merritt\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.life.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/18173021\/00821189-e1571419821690.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-10-18T17:30:50+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-10-22T20:00:48+00:00\",\"description\":\"Learn about Vernon Merritt, one of the many photographers for LIFE who captured some of the most iconic pictures from the US & around the World.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.life.com\/photographer\/vernon-merritt\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.life.com\/photographer\/vernon-merritt\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.life.com\/photographer\/vernon-merritt\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.life.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/18173021\/00821189-e1571419821690.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.life.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/18173021\/00821189-e1571419821690.jpg\",\"width\":768,\"height\":522,\"caption\":\"Weathered tree stump in desert near Mentone, Texas. 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