Seventy-three years ago today, a fishing trip turned into a moment of photojournalistic history when Virginia Schau captured one of the most dramatic rescue photographs ever taken. Her image of two men being saved from a truck cab dangling precariously over the Pit River Bridge would earn her the 1954 Pulitzer Prize for Photography, making her the first woman to receive the prestigious award.
On May 3, 1953, Walter and Virginia Schau had planned a leisurely day of fishing along the upper Sacramento River with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Brown, to mark the opening of fishing season. Virginia brought along a Brownie camera her sister had given her years earlier, though she later admitted she was typically the type of person who always takes a camera on trips but never takes pictures.
That day would prove different. When a semitrailer crashed over the side of the Pit River Bridge, the cab ended up dangling over the edge with drivers Overby and Baum trapped inside. The rear wheels of the cab had become jammed between the side of the bridge and the trailer, which miraculously remained on the bridge, preventing the entire vehicle from plunging into the Sacramento River below.
Virginia's husband, Walter Schau, and another driver, J. D. McLaren of Concord, California, immediately stopped traffic and located a length of rope. With assistance from other motorists, they attempted to rescue the trapped drivers from the precarious position. From her vantage point, Virginia Schau managed to capture two photographs using the last two exposures remaining in her camera.
The photograph's journey from amateur snapshot to Pulitzer Prize winner began modestly. Virginia's father reminded her of the Sacramento Bee's weekly photo contest. She submitted the photograph, won the contest along with ten dollars, and the image was subsequently picked up by the Associated Press and distributed globally.
Nearly a year later, Virginia Schau was, by her own account, "flabbergasted" to learn that her rescue photograph had won the 1954 Pulitzer Prize for Photography, which came with a one thousand dollar prize. The timing proved fortuitous, as the money helped defray hospital bills for the birth of her first child, a son.
The significance of Schau's achievement extends beyond the dramatic nature of the photograph itself. As the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Photography, she broke a significant barrier in a male-dominated field of photojournalism. Her success demonstrated that compelling news photography could come from unexpected sources and that citizen journalism, even before the term existed, could produce work of the highest caliber.
The rescue itself was successful, with both Overby and Baum pulled to safety before the cab could fall into the river. The image Schau captured with her simple Kodak Brownie camera remains a testament to being in the right place at the right time with the presence of mind to document history as it unfolds.
May 3 has proven to be a historically significant date for other reasons as well. On this day in 1802, Washington, DC was incorporated as a city. In 1960, the Anne Frank House opened in Amsterdam to showcase the life, diary, and death of the fourteen-year-old Holocaust victim. Margaret Thatcher became Britain's first female prime minister on May 3, 1979, and in 2008, the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities went into force, guaranteeing rights for some 650 million people worldwide.
The date also marks significant cultural milestones. James Brown, known as the Godfather of Soul, was born on May 3, 1933, in South Carolina. His career spanning more than fifty years influenced the development of funk, rhythm and blues, and hip hop. Rolling Stone magazine ranked him as the seventh greatest musical artist of all time, and he was among the first ten inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986.
In the realm of broadcasting, May 3, 1971, marked the debut of National Public Radio's first original news program, All Things Considered. The inaugural broadcast featured coverage of a rally of 20,000 people in Washington, DC protesting the Vietnam War. Susan Stamberg, who worked as a production assistant on that first show, would make history a year later as the first woman to anchor a daily national news program in America.
Literary history was made on May 3, 1937, when Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. The novel, set during the American Civil War and following the struggles of Scarlett O'Hara, remains extraordinarily popular, with more than thirty million copies printed worldwide. A 2014 poll found it to be Americans' second favorite book, just behind the Bible.
These historical milestones remind us that ordinary moments can become extraordinary when circumstances align. Virginia Schau's experience on the Pit River Bridge exemplifies how preparedness, quick thinking, and a simple camera can capture images that resonate across generations, breaking barriers and documenting the courage of everyday heroes.
