Homework #4

Young Jewish Robert Franks goal was to capture America and its ordinary people as they went through their everyday lives. The result was a book of 83 photographs, noted as one of the greatest achievements of 20^th century photography. The book is critical of America using different themes to bring to light the constituents of everyday life that make up American, sometimes described as bleak and uninteresting, something very different than what Americans were used to in the LIFE Magazine. I believe that is photos were a means to spark a political response in society. Although his photos were based on the everyday lives of individuals, it is the lives of these individuals that make up society. The one image that I found that reflects this idea immensely is the image of the African American woman holding the white baby. As a young Jewish boy who was new to this idea of racial discrimination, he could not understand how a white family could be comfortable with an African American woman holding their baby yet not allow for them and this woman to sit at the same cafeteria. By capturing the moment of woman and child, Frank reveals the political injustice and juxtaposition apparent in how Americans act verses what their subjected to believe.