English 1301 Essay #2 Visual Analysis

Heath 0

Kathryn Heath

Professor Manav Kaur

English 1301

May 29, 2020

Living in the Slums

Life, is a word that can be seen very differently through many people’s eyes. It can be seen as unfair, as rags and riches, and on one side of the spectrum you have people that have enough money to buy anything and everything they want, and on the other side you have families living in poverty that all they can do is pray that they can make ends meet to have a bed to sleep on and food to eat. The Fontenelle Family by Gordon Parks, the photograph Fontenelle Children Outside Their Harlem Tenement, Harlem, New York , 1967 was taken for life magazine to document the living conditions of black families living in the slums or “ghetto” of New York, specifically Harlem. In the land of hopes and dreams, one of the wealthiest countries, we still have families going to bed without food and sometimes without a roof over their head. Where did we go wrong and how do we fix it?

In the image, you will notice four kids standing outside their “Tenement”, in filth and upset. There is graffiti on the doors and bricks and garbage all over the ground. The graffiti is a resemblance of violence and gangs marking their territory. In the 1960’s in Harlem no one was safe, not whites, not blacks, crime was increasing dramatically and the poor were usually the victims. “Theft, extorsion, drugs, prostitution, gambling, and graft were big businesses in the ghetto.  It's hard to get ahead when meager savings are stolen, or have to be used to repair damaged property or pay the medical costs of violent injury” (Hartford). In the ghettos there was very limited housing at the time. “Slumloards” could force tenants to pay high rents for small, filthy, not well heated apartments. For this family of nine, it was either living in the filth, but having a roof over your head or in the streets where there was no escape from violence. The issue was that ghetto residence usually paid a higher portion of their income if any for housing compared to whites. “This “color tax” made it all the harder for them to lift themselves out of poverty”(Hartford).

This picture depicts a family living in absolute poverty with no source of income, no education, and limited food and clothing. One of the boys is sitting with a very angry and distraught look on his face, he has a paper in his lap. This depicts the lack of education these kids living in the slums are receiving. Because of the lack of education this boy most likely cannot read the paper on his lap and is going to use it for a necessity of living. The child against the brick wall is very upset and looks as though they are crying. Because of the violence and lack of money, their mother could have gone out to find a source of income and the children witnessed something to upset them or they were scared of what could happen to them with her gone. Another circumstance could be the amount of emotion and anger portrayed to one another because of the amount of frustration in the family that could be acted upon due to lack of nutrition and what is happening behind closed doors.

There is a sense of comfort in this picture and this is shown by little boy holding his baby brother. Because everyone is so spread out besides these two, this shows a sense of comfort and love even during stressful times. This depicts that these siblings will look out for each other no matter the circumstances and that there is always love for one another even during really difficult and gruesome times. The focus of this image was the children and the different emotions expressed by them. Frustration of poverty can cause a lot of mistreatment at home causing the children to be unhappy and misbehave. The framing of the picture shows how tight the quarters are even outside of the apartment and how dirty it truly is.

There is hope for the poor and people in poverty. In the United States we will in the land of hopes and dreams. There are services now that are provided to help these people and families get a source of income and put food on their tables and a roof over their head. “There is something about both of us that goes deeper than blood or black and white. It is our common search for a better life, a better world.” People living in these conditions strive to have a better life for their family and we can make this happen as long as we work together to make the world a better place.

Works Cited

Parks, Gordon. “The Fontenelle Family, 1967.” Gordon Parks Foundation, 1967, www.gordonparksfoundation.org/gordon-parks/photography-archive/the-fontenelle-family-1967?view=slider#12.

Hartford, Bruce. “Ghettos, Segregation, & Poverty in the 1960s.” Veterans of the Civil Rights Movement -- Ghettos, Segregation, and Poverty in the 1960s, 2015, www.crmvet.org/comm/ghetto15.htm.