A Picture Worth a Thousand Words Visual analysis using images from history Morales English 101

This is a portrait of Frederick Douglass, former slave, author, and abolitionist. c. 1866. Slavery had just been abolished when this photo was taken. Credit: New York Historical Society

Here’s a photo from the State Library of New South Wales of Adelie penguins after a blizzard at Cape Denison, taken by Frank Hurley during the First Australasian Antarctic Expedition, 1911-1914 (credit: lisagoldresearch.wordpress.com)

Elizabeth Eckford ignores the hostile screams and stares of adults and fellow students at Little Rock's Central High School in September 1957. Credit: NPR.org

A Chinese man stands alone to block a line of tanks heading east on Beijing's Cangan Blvd. in Tiananmen Square on June 5, 1989. The man has never been identified. It’s been 23 years, and the world still doesn’t know his name. When the skinny, slope-shouldered guy in a white shirt and black pants holding two plastic grocery bags, stepped in front of a column of government tanks rolling near the uprising in Tiananmen Square, he stepped into history. The mystery man immediately became “Tank Man,” a powerful symbol of non-violent resistance Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/tank-man-stood-tall-tiananmen-square-remains-unidentified-20-article-1.1090054#ixzz2g1oG5pDw

Picture of segregated water fountains in North Carolina taken by Elliott Erwitt (wikipedia.com)

1879, Ellis Island Archives—family arrives in America 1879, Ellis Island Archives—family arrives in America. (no details on who they are or where they’re from)

Female SS Guards after their Arrest in Bergen-Belsen (May 15, 1945) Female SS Guards after their Arrest in Bergen-Belsen (May 15, 1945). The photo shows, among others, camp guard Irma Grese (last row, left) after her arrest by British troops. Grese had distinguished herself by her extreme brutality as a guard at Ravensbrück, Auschwitz-Birkenau II, and Bergen-Belsen. In the first Bergen-Belsen Trial, she was sentenced to death for the abuse and murder of camp inmates. She was executed on December 13, 1945, at the age of twenty-two. Also shown are concentration camp guards Magdalene Kessel (second row, left), Irene Haschke (front row, left) and Herta Bothe (front row, right). Both Haschke and Bothe were sentenced to ten-year prison terms. (germanhistorydocs.org)

Southern Right Whale, New Zealand Photograph by Brian Skerry, National Geographic Southern right whale and diver, New Zealand, 2007 It was a stunning scene—a 45-foot-long, 70-ton right whale hovering over the bottom just a few feet away from a diver standing on the bottom. … At some point I stopped and kneeled on the sand to catch my breath, and I was certain the whale would just keep swimming. Instead, the whale also stopped, turned, and hovered over me as it stared with that soulful eye. A few seconds later, I resumed swimming alongside the whale, making pictures, and savoring every second.

Young girl wearing a Ku Klux Klan robe Young girl wearing a Ku Klux Klan robe. KKK is a white power group who denounce any non-white group. (no credit found on photo)

Lewis Hine (1874-1940) Boy coal miners Lewis Hine (1874-1940) Boy coal miners. 15 years old was the legal age but many boys lied about their age: many boy miners were as young as 12 years old. Photo by Lewis (Library of Congress)

The Falling Man is a photograph taken by Associated Press photographer Richard Drew, of a man falling from the North Tower of the World Trade Center at 9:41:15 a.m. during the September 11 attacks in New York City. The subject of the image, whose identity remains uncertain, was one of the people trapped on the upper floors of the skyscraper who either fell searching for safety or jumped to escape the fire and smoke. At least 200 people fell or jumped to their deaths that day. (wikipedia)

the 15-year-old girl pictured here who is now on display in Argentina’s High Mountain Archaeological MuseumLlullaillaco mummies In their study, Corthals and her colleagues took lip swabs from two Andean Inca mummies, a 7-year-old boy and "the Maiden," as well as samples from the boy's bloodied cloak. The two child mummies, discovered in 1999, were originally buried on the summit of the Argentinian volcano Llullaillaco, 22,100 feet (6,739 meters) above sea level, after being sacrificed in a ceremonial ritual.

Lunch atop a Skyscraper (New York Construction Workers Lunching on a Crossbeam) is a famous black-and-white photograph taken during construction of the RCA Building (renamed the GE Building in 1988) at Rockefeller Center in New York City, United States. The photo is credited to Charles C. Ebbets. The photo was taken on September 20, 1932 on the 69th floor of the RCA Building during the last months of construction. According to archivists, the photo was in fact prearranged.[1] Although the photo shows real construction workers, it is believed that the moment was staged by the Rockefeller Center to promote its new skyscraper.

U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt (left) and nature preservationist John Muir, founder of the Sierra Club, on Glacier Point in Yosemite National Park. In the background: Upper and lower Yosemite Falls. Date Copyright 1906 (Library of Congress photo) U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt (left) and nature preservationist John Muir, founder of the Sierra Club, on Glacier Point in Yosemite National Park. In the background: Upper and lower Yosemite Falls.

This image of a prisoner being tortured has become internationally famous, eventually making it onto the cover of The Economist. From late 2003 to early 2004, during the War in Iraq, military police personnel of the United States Army and the Central Intelligence Agency[1] committed human rights violations against prisoners held in the Abu Ghraib prison. They physically and sexually abused, tortured,[2][3][4] raped,[2][3] sodomized,[4] and killed[5] prisoners. (wikipedia)

Mushroom cloud from the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan on August 9, 1945. This was a press print. This image was used repeatedly by the New York Times from 1945 through the mid-1990s. The mission was sent to destroy the arsenal at Kokura, Japan, but due to heavy cloud cover it moved to the secondary target of Nagasaki. At the time, Nagasaki was a major port city and naval shipyard. At 11:02 a.m., the B-29 Superfortress, nicknamed Bockscar, dropped a plutonium bomb code-named "Fat Man." When the bomb exploded some 1,500 feet over Nagasaki, it did so with a force equal to roughly 20,000 tons of dynamite. While estimates on the death toll differ, around 40,000 were killed by the initial blast. It is estimated that another 30,000 died due to the effects of radiation in the aftermath of the explosion, with some deaths occuring many years later. It is not known exactly who made this photograph of the mushroom cloud over Nagasaki. It is assumed that this photo was made by a U.S. Army Air Force serviceman on the mission to document the nuclear device. (getty.edu)