This is a photo taken by Gordon parks in June 1942 of a child playing on her front porch. This particular photo was snapped in Washington D.C. about midway through his career. It speaks volumes about the average family life of the time. It has an underlying message that even in places such as the capitol of the United States, hardship can still take place.
1942 was a hard year like many others in the 30's and 40's. The Great Depression was subsiding but the war was in full motion. Many fathers and brothers were being sent away to fight for the country they loved. the war required many men to be away from their families and for the women to start working, which was unusual for the time as the majority of men still played the role as the breadwinners. This left many families in hard times as many women did not earn as much as the men because they had no prior work experience. This left them with little food to put on the table and even less time to actually spend raising their families.
The photo appears to almost have some sort of reminiscent aura about it. One can almost assume that the child is waiting for something. Possibly their mother or father to come home. The partial absence of maternal and paternal figures left many children to their own devices for large portions of their day. This led many children to rely on themselves and their siblings to retrieve what they needed while their parents were gone.
All in all the war was a tough time for families everywhere in America as many dilemma's left them separated and isolated for large periods of time. It was an overall travesty and something we all must work on never letting happen again.
I like how you pointed out that fathers, or the “breadwinners”, were forced to go to war at this time. This caused women to have to leave the children to go to work and the children had to take care of each other. This makes me question whether the child in this photograph is not wearing a sufficient amount of clothing because of poverty within the family with the father being away. It looks like this was taken in a poorer neighborhood because of the old warehouse in the background. But, it also makes me wonder if this child isn’t properly dressed because the parents weren’t home to dress the child. Also, I agree with what you said about the child looking anxious and awaiting the arrival of parents, possibly the mother arriving from work.
ReplyDeleteDevin does a good job contextualizing this photo for us, which can help us think about this difficult period of transition in American history. I like this interpretation that the child is waiting for something, and in fact actively waiting because the child is watching. Samantha brings up some good questions too. How do we explain this child's lack of clothing? Poverty? Simply an equivalent to a child running around in a diaper today? I agree with both of you that this looks like a poor neighborhood. What do you make of the lighting in this image?
ReplyDelete