ABSTRACT
Modern history “How a photographer wraps that rectangular frame around a moment in
time can be powerful, or it can be a moment wasted.”1
The successes of Riis, Hine, and the Farm Security Administration
(FSA) photographers described in Chapter 1 firmly established the fact
that photographs were, and continue to be the most effective method of
communicating a verifiable truth about social injustice while evoking
an emotional response from the viewer. That emotional response
provokes action(s), putting pressure on those with the power to do
something. Photography retained its activist status throughout the late
1930s and 1940s because the photograph had no competition. In World
War II, news organizations and publications geared up to cover the war,
providing support and precious print space for the newer generation of
photographers. For example, Life magazine sent photographers to the
frontlines and even ran a photo school to train army photographers.2
