The rise of organized labor in the 1930s From the perspective of the early 21st century - Assignment Example

Documenting America, 1935-1943 http memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/fsaall:@filreq(@field(NUMBER+@band(fsa+8b15960 field(COLLID+fsa Documenting America is a series of photos from well-celebrated photographers during the Great Depression era. The people behind the lens captured the harsh conditions during the time. But on the other hand, the photographer owned a unique character that is essential for capturing the dynamism and creativity of people subjected to the said condition. As displayed in the photo, the people, though under the pressure of economic difficulties, found time for engaging in leisurely activities such as playing chess.

These people, migrants who have decided to reside in camps, are the same people who are actively drawing the “other fun and light side” of their existing difficult life. This goes to show that despite the pressing needs of the moment: unemployment, poverty, lack of education, lack of quality living etc, people will always naturally look for ways to relieve them of the undercurrent stresses. As fun and leisure becomes more and more rare, engaging in these kinds of activities has become prized and photographers from this era have vividly captured that natural nature of humans to seek fun and leisure.

The Great Depression and the Arts: East side West side. http://www.butlerart.com/pc_book/pages/william_gropper_1897.htm This literature offers a collection of paintings of the everyday life, hardships, and other related scenes among during the great depression. As life becomes harder and harder, strikes and other violent means of expressing anxiety against the government has become a legitimate course of action among those severely affected. Unlike Documenting America, this collection emphasizes the people’s emotions that are captured through paintings; those that evoked suffering, resilience, and survival.

The social unrest gave rise to these creative but sad expressions. Through this, the rise of popular culture which places much prize on seeking leisurely and pleasurable activities as opposed to hard-work and self denial (or more commonly called as Prohibition) during this era has been captured as both a personal and collective response by those affected by the worse economic meltdown of the American economy in the 1900s. It illustrates how the evolving consumer-based society at that time placed much prize on.

This reflects the prevalent clash of culture between social classes, gender, race, and even age who are seeking the general want of a comfortable life while being stuck in a turbulent state of poverty and lack. The delivery of the message in both The Great Depression and The Arts: East Side and West Side and Documenting America have had had both passive and active influences in what is now America. Captured in the heart of the photos are Americans (and even non-Americans) who, at the worse of these conditions, are resilient enough to survive the depressing situation.

Bound for Glory. http://blogs.denverpost.com/captured/2010/07/26/captured-america-in-color-from-1939-1943/2363/ The central theme of the photo is the emerging need to seek a better pasture as a consequence of the Great Depression in the 1930s. The characters of the literature stir the imagination about the hardships in both farm and city life encountered during the time. As a result of the dire need and want to get out of a rutted situation, it is assumed that some, if not most, affected by the economic hardship will set out of his/her own comfort zone and use his skills to express a kind of creative activism.

The book is presumably entitled “bound for glory” because it envisions the oneness of the rest of the American people to be resilient in this time of hardship and be together in recovering successfully. Like the two preceding photos, it definitely also shows the “other side” of hardship. Though fun, creativity, and solidarity is expressed in uninformed ways, the central tenet is that life goes on and humans will always find a way to seek the lighter and enjoyable side of things.