Cyd Charisse - c. 1940s

1936 --- Ziegfeld girls march on the beach with an American flag. From left to right: Claire Owens, Claire Manners, Frances McInerny, Mary Lange, Monica Bannister, Bonnie Bannon, and Wanda Perry. --- Image by © John Springer Collection/CORBIS

“American Gothic,” considered to be Parks’s signature image, was taken in Washington, D.C., in 1942, during the photographer’s fellowship with the Farm Security Administration, a government agency set up by President Roosevelt to aid farmers in despair. “It’s the first professional image I ever made,” Parks says, “created on my first day in Washington.” Roy Stryker, who led the FSA’s very best documentary photographers—Dorothea Lange, Walker Evans, Carl Mydans, etc.—told Parks to go out and get acquainted with the city. Parks was amazed by the amount of bigotry and discrimination he encountered on his very first day. “White restaurants made me enter through the back door, white theaters wouldn’t even let me in the door, and as the day went on things just went from bad to worse.” Stryker told Parks to go talk with some older black people who had lived their entire lives in Washington and see how they had coped. “That’s how I met Ella,” Parks explains. Ella Watson was a black charwoman who mopped floors in the FSA building. Parks asked her about her life, which she divulged as having been full of misery, bigotry and despair. Parks’s simple question, “Would you let me photograph you?” and Ella’s affirmative response, led to the photographer’s most recognizable image of all time. “Two days later Stryker saw the image and told me I’d gotten the right idea but was going to get all the FSA photogs fired, that my image of Ella was ‘an indictment of America.’ I thought the image had been killed but one day there it was, on the front page of The Washington Post .” At the time, Parks couldn’t have realized that the image would go on to become the symbol of the pre-civil rights era’s treatment of minorities. (PDN)

Equal Rights Amendment protest.

First Lady Betty Ford works at her desk, where a “Don’t Tread on Me” Equal Rights Amendment doormat hangs. June 30, 1975.

Stonewall uprising, 1969

Washington, D.C., circa 1920. "Father Fealey and family." Ignatius Fealey, post chaplain at Fort Myer and future pastor of St. Agnes Catholic Church. National Photo Company Collection glass negative.

Washington, D.C. "Helen Davis, 1924." Helen's father, Dwight Davis, was Secretary of War in the Coolidge administration and a tennis champion who founded the Davis Cup. National Photo glass negative.

Freaks and Geeks (1999)

Washington, D.C. July 26, 1919. "Bathing beach parade at Tidal Basin." National Photo Company Collection glass negative.

Washington, D.C., circa 1920. "National Radio School."

August 9, 1938. Washington, D.C. "Air conditioned hen house is latest. Biddy increases the production of eggs in an air-conditioned hen house, U.S. Department of Agriculture experts have discovered after extensive experiments. The first temperature controlled maternity ward for hens has just been put into operation at the governmental experimental farm here. The hens have voiced their approval by laying more frequently; also a more uniform egg. R.B. Nestler, poultry expert, is pictured as he removes the eggs from the automatic chute in the new room. Note the air conditioning apparatus on the ceiling." So this poultry man with the wonderful name of Nestler is, contrary to USDA Best Practices, putting all his eggs in one basket. Harris & Ewing glass negative.

Washington, D.C., circa 1938. "Patrick Brennan, son of the Minister of Ireland, and Mrs. Brennan." Or something like that. One of a series of photographs depicting children of various diplomats speaking from their homes to a radio audience. Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative.

THE HOWDY CLUB A lesbian bar on 3rd Street in the Village. Club was open from the 1930s-1940s. (Above picture - Howdy Club’s football team, circa 1940)

Mattachine Society Inc, of New York 1966 (Poster reads: Homosexuals are different…. but… we believe they have the right to be. We believe that the civil rights and human dignity of homosexuals are as precious as those of any other citizen… we believe that the homosexual has the right to live, work and participate in a free society. Mattachine defends the rights of homosexuals and tries to create a climate of understanding and acceptance.)

August 1942. "Inspecting thousands of drills each day, women employed by a large Midwest drill and tool company must learn to detect the tiniest flaw in these vital machine accessories. Republic Drill and Tool Co., Chicago." Medium format negative by Ann Rosener for the Office of War Information.

Rest assured, the Morris Minor is one of the world’s safest cars. 1954.

One, Inc. was the FIRST pro-gay publication in the United States. Started by members of the Mattachine Society, One, Inc. focused on gay men’s issues, health and political rights. The premier issue launched November 1952. (Above Picture: One, Inc.’s August 1958 issues (almost 11 years BEFORE Stonewall) claiming homosexual pride.)

July 31, 1921. Washington, D.C. "Pie eating contest at Tidal Basin bathing beach." In the back row: the blurry but unmistakable facial contours of Iola Swinnerton. National Photo Company Collection glass negative.

May 28, 1923. Washington, D.C. "Potomac Tidal Basin bathing beach." National Photo Company Collection glass negative.

June 9, 1937. Washington, D.C. "Congressional hog caller. The Capitol Plaza reverberated with sounds of the barnyard today as Rep. Robert L. Mouton of Louisiana went into serious training for his coming hog-calling contest with Rep. Otha D. Wearin of Iowa. The contest, which will take place on the Capitol steps sometime in the near future, is the result of an argument between the two solons as to the abilities of the hog-yodelers from the respective states. Judging from his demonstration today, the cameraman is willing right now to place the mantle of champion on Rep. Mouton." Harris & Ewing glass negative.

Washington, D.C., circa 1938. "Native American boys with bicycle." The original caption for this photo, which has been lost, probably did not use the phrase "Native American." Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative.

The FJ Holden, 1954.

No strings attached: Berlei girdles, 1954.

Minneapolis, Minnesota, circa 1905. "West Hotel." Busy both architecturally and commercially. 8x10 inch glass negative, Detroit Publishing Co.

Audre Lorde (1934-1992), ca. early 1940s, as a Roman Catholic schoolgirl, dressed for her First Communion.

September 1939. "Liquor store in Gateway District, Minneapolis." 35mm negative by John Vachon for the Farm Security Administration.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. sees off a group of Freedom Riders as they board a bus for Jackson, Miss., on May 24, 1961.

Spelman College graduation.

July 1940. Berrien County, Michigan. "Migrant mother of family from Arkansas in roadside camp of cherry pickers." Our second look at the lady seen here last week. 35mm nitrate negative by John Vachon.

November 1935. Prince George's County, Maryland. "CCC boys at work." Another one of those Civilian Conservation Corps projects that involved lots of photogenic exertion. 35mm negative by Carl Mydans for the FSA.

Washington, D.C., 1915. "Dog show." The happy couple, looking bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative.

Washington, D.C., circa 1919. "Red Cross ambulances at Washington Monument." Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative.

September 1935. Washington, D.C. "Front of Negro home near Capitol. Interiors of these homes vary little. A chair or two and a table, a bed and perhaps an extra mattress on the floor cares for six to ten people." 35mm nitrate negative by Carl Mydans for the Farm Security Administration.

An old anti-suffragist cartoon shows a white man being thrown out of a brick building onto the street. The brick building shows three white women looking out the window at the man being thrown out onto the street, and they seem pretty pleased with the situation. The man is well dressed in a top hat and coat and looks incensed at the way he has been treated as he looks back at the building and the women in the doorway that are looking happy with themselves. These women are wearing votes for women buttons and are carrying women’s rights pamphlets. On the buildings are signs that say “Man? The missing link”, “No men admitted”, “Home for lost stolen or strayed suffragettes”, “man disgraces the animal world” and “down with the men”. At the bottom of the image are red words that read “girls I didn’t marry”.

Julia Aaron, 1961. Julia Aaron didn’t just participate in the Freedom Rides, her family also housed some of the many people who arrived in New Orleans in order to integrate inter-state buses and trains.

“Known as the Motorcycle Queen of Miami, Bessie Stringfield started riding when she was 16. She was the first African-American woman to travel cross-country solo, and she did it at age 19 in 1929, riding a 1928 Indian Scout. Bessie traveled through all of the lower 48 states during the ’30s and ’40s at a time when the country was rife with prejudice and hatred. She later rode in Europe, Brazil, and Haiti and during World War II she served as one of the few motorcycle despatch riders for the United States military.”

Sunday - Ben Shahn, 1935

Gina Palerme, photographed by E.O. Hoppé, 1915

It’s so exciting to own a new President refrigerator. 1954.

It’s new, it’s practical, it’s pegboard! 1954