Picture This
I spent some time this morning looking at a slide show of photos from the 1930s. Most of the work in this collection was of African Americans. Having taught about The Great Depression many times, I'm familiar with many of the books and photos from that crucial time period. Visual literacy is a subject that always played a role in the curriculum I created. Who doesn't love to look at pictures. Granted, there are historical photo essays that are difficult to look at, but in the long run, they are, in my view, always worthwhile. One particular photo caught my attention. This picture of a man walking up stairs to the segregated section of a movie theater wouldn't leave me alone. As I've often done, I asked myself what I see first... and then what? There is an artistic symmetry to the photo; a dualism from black and white to shadow and light, to have and have very little. Lots of symbolism too. The clock the Dr. Pepper message and of course the ladder that a