Formerly enslaved woman, Alabama c. 1938 - 1969

This photograph of a formerly enslaved woman in Alabama was taken by Dorothea Lange. Lange used photography to document the lives of ordinary people, and in this image, we see the effects of hard labor etched on her subject's face and hands. Photography as a medium has a direct connection to industrialization. The camera, a complex mechanism, allows for the mass production of images. But here, the photograph also serves as a tool for social commentary. The woman’s clothing, though simple, speaks volumes about her history and present circumstances. The fabrics, likely cotton, recall the crops she would have labored over during enslavement and after emancipation as a sharecropper. Her hands, clasped tightly around the wooden stick, are weathered from a life of physical toil. Lange's photograph invites us to consider the relationship between labor, materials, and the human condition. By documenting this woman’s existence, she elevates her story, challenging traditional distinctions between art and social documentation.