photo from lecture

Dorothea Lange's photograph of the bread line during the great depression stirs up a lot of emotions for me at a few different levels. I have seen this picture countless times in  photo history classes that i have taken and recently in a news article about America's current economic crisis, and each time it generates a slightly different reaction. The first time I remember seeing it was in high school, where I focused mainly on the contrasting skin color of the people on the billboard and the people in the line. I also remember thinking how far we have come from that era when race was such an apparent issue and America was in terrible economic distress. And now we are again in a time when race and economic crisis are in the forefront of topics in our country. The way that this photograph can transcend over decades and still draw attention and emotion is truly remarkable.

I also have a very personal reaction to this photograph because I am a part of a white family of four with a dog (little brother and a beagle). It makes me almost ashamed of it. Even in class it was brought up that the billboard was a misrepresentation of the perfect family and that no family in America actually looks like this, but mine does. However, in the late 1930's my peasant grandparents had just arrived in America from Poland and were in no way living the life that the billboard illustrates. So even though my family may look like white rich wasps from the outside, around the time this picture was taken they were going through the same struggle that the people in the bread line were.