In this photo we see a very large billboard of a white family in a nice car. Notice how the dog, the young boy and girl happy as can be. The billboard says “World’s Highest Standard of Living” yet we see a line of African American standing in the cold for what appears to be relief assistance. I want to point out the angle of the photo. The photographer took the photo at such an angle or distance to ad emphases to the billboard. at first glance you notice that the African Americans appear to be smothered still the same by whites.
The line appears to only have African americans standing in it. Look at there faces. Can you see the story is the same, frustration, hunger and anger. This is what I see.
The Two photos.
They have much in common! We can see that their faces tell the story. No matter how much the white society trys to cover them up, or hide the truth about how they were treated. I see that in both photos they represent how someone wants them to be. You can see that the African Americans in the photos are all individuals and not collectively the same. I say this to put emphases on each of them. When you look closely at the photos you can see that they all are different. The man on the far left with glasses might be a painter, the man with the soldier hat looking at the camera with the small grin might be a retired soldier. The point being that whites should not have pushed “Passing wherein some people of color deny their racial or ethnic backgrounds in order to be accepted as white “(Benshoff and Griffin Pg 57) As we can see from the first photo that the photographer changed their clothing and posed them as proper whites. The second photo we can see that they are being pushed to be more like the white race in the way they appear. I agree with Benshoff and Griffin that “ethnic cultures should be celebrated and not phased out of existence” (Benshoff and Griffin Pg 57) today we see all americans who celebrate their racial or ethnic backgrounds, with things like the Afro, Martial Arts, dance and food.
“Most if not all images have a meaning that is preferred by their producers” (Sturken & Cartwright Pg 45) I feel that I might not have looked at the meanings of advertisements and photographs in this light, or better said in depth. I have seen photos/advertisements in the past but a have not looked at them! I have learned to ask myself, what are they saying? What do they want me to feel and see. With these thoughts in mind, it changes everything.


Harry M. Benshoff and Sean Griffin, “The Concept of Whiteness,” America on Film
(Malden: Blackwell Publishing, 2004) Pg 57.

2. Marita Sturken & Lisa Cartwright, “Viewers Make Meaning,” Practices of looking: an Introduction to Visual Culture. 2nd ed (New York City: Oxford University Press, Inc ,2001) Pg 45.