This is a photo of the March for Gender Equality and Women’s Rights in New York in 1970. To find this image, I google searched “feminism” and found this among many others that were somewhat similar. When I chose the image, it took me to a blog called Direct Action Everywhere, which deals with and discusses different social issues. It is a PDF that was probably scanned in and put on the Internet at some point. This site is not the original source of the image, but I did discover that it was taken by a man named Bob Adelman in 1970. This image, along with the many others that were taken of this march, were used to promote and spread the women’s liberation movement. By getting the word out and showing people what they were fighting for, the movement was able to gain more momentum and support throughout the country.

The image was both taken and released in 1970. I believe it was important for it to be released as soon as possible in order to quickly rally support for such an important cause. Many people did not understand the movement and had misconceptions about what these women were fighting for. Even today feminism is misconstrued as a man-hating movement, however, this could not be further from the truth. The goals of this march and the movement as a whole were to bring women up to the same level as men, not pull men down to the same level as women. The sign in this image that states, “Women of the world unite,” is a call to women everywhere, not just in America, to band together and demand their equality. These women knew that inequality was not just an issue they were dealing with, but something women everywhere were facing and continue to face today.

I chose this subject to find an image of because it is not just a social issue that was dealt with in the past, it’s a fight that is still happening today. It’s relevant to the present and is an issue that I believe everyone should be educated on in order to understand and help find a solution.

Despite the efforts and successes of the Civil Rights Movement, African Americans today are still fighting for equal treatment and an end to racism in America. The most recent example is in Baltimore, where Freddie Gray, an African American man, was killed by police officers. His death resulted in protests and riots in Baltimore, where this photo was taken of a man displaying the symbol of Black Power, a symbol that began during the Civil Rights Movement.

This week in lecture and small section we discussed feminism. One thing we talked about was how much of the feminism of the past was focused on white women rather than all women. For example, it is widely accepted that women gained the right to vote in 1920, however this was only true for white women. Native American women didn’t receive this right until 1924, Asian women in 1952, and black women were not allowed to vote until 1964. One thing I think the current wave of feminism does well is benefit a more wide-spread portion of society, even including men. I thought this picture was a good representation of the intersectionality of different groups that are included in the current push of feminism.

Today in class, we talked about how the culture in America changed because of the atom bomb. People were creating ads and products based around the bomb in an attempt to cope with their fear and anxiety. Similarly, I found an ad that uses 9/11 as a way to reach the American people. However, instead of coping with the fear surrounding the event, this ad uses the fear and plays on it in an attempt to get people to stop smoking. This is similar to the atom bomb ads though in the way that it distracts the American people from the event itself.

The first week of lecture Professor Blum was constantly talking about how history is all around us, or better yet, how we are “haunted by history.” I was at The Habit for lunch and saw this sign that literally described the history of the restaurant I was in. This is a perfect example of how we are living in parts of history every day without even knowing it. This restaurant didn’t just appear out of thin air, but was carefully planned in the past and has evolved into what it is today. Although it is different from the first Habit, it has the same premise that was put into place over 40 years ago.