Annotated Bib #3

Observation

- This photo features two young boys sitting on a sidewalk in front of two large doors, which possibly opens to a factory. The one child is black, and the other boy is white. They are both between the ages of 6-8 years old. They are dressed in a similar fashion both wearing overalls with striped shirts underneath. The black boy has his right hand clinched as if he is holding something, or observing and biting his nails. The white boy is watching something or someone because of his still face something has his attention. On the ground behind the boys is a broken pipe or something the boys could have been playing with before this image was captured. There are two large steel doors behind the boys that leads to a factory or some industrial type place because of the tools in front of the door (upper right corner of the picture). The boys are also sitting near a manhole, which could have something to do with the place behind them.

Inference

- In Duganne's essay on Roy DeCarava, she includes insightful comments on DeCarava's personal life which shows why he captured images the way he did. Duganne states, "DeCarava shares an unmediated relationship with this content, his efforts to use these photographs of Harlem to explore concepts of race and self- including those childhood memories, fears, and desires that made up his inner, psyche life-have frequently been overlooked" (132). This quote shows why DeCarava captured Harlem the way he did. Many of his photos were of places that reflected his childhood memory. According to Duganne's essay, "DeCarava repeatedly moved around Harlem as a child, living in neighborhoods that were often more Hispanic, Irish, and Italian than African Americans" (133). This quote reflects on DeCarava's childhood and how he moved around Harlem a lot, and was around many other races of people instead of his own. This could be why he captured this image of a "African American" boy and a child that could be Hispanic, Irish, Italian, or something else. He inspired to reconnect with his roots and ethnicity by using photography. This photo shows a diverse area with two young boys of two different races sitting together without confrontation. DeCarava is quoted, "So I was always the new kid on the block. I never had a chance to take roots where there does exist, in poor areas, a history- a tradition (133). This photos reflects on his childhood and who he grew up around. In the community he grew up in similar to the photo, race was not the issue in a poor northern city, and so this photo symbolizes something greater than just skin color. With the youth hate is never natural it is taught, and so young children of all color usually get along together. DeCarava could be showing us that with his images that his community was not concerned with race since it was a universal struggle in the neighborhoods but people were close to each other because they lived on the same street.