Washington, D.C. Government Charwoman (American Gothic) after 1942

This is Gordon Parks' photographic appropriation of Grant Wood's iconic painting, “American Gothic.” Parks replaces the white Iowan farmers with Ella Watson, a Black cleaning woman employed by the Farm Security Administration in Washington, D.C. Made during Park's time working for the FSA, it was a period in which he sought to document the realities of American life, particularly focusing on issues of poverty and racial discrimination. Parks once said, “I suffered evils, but without allowing them to rob me of the freedom to expand.” Here, Watson stands stoically before an American flag, holding a broom and mop—tools of her trade. Parks references Wood's composition to offer a stark commentary on race, labor, and national identity during the Jim Crow era. He challenges the idealized image of the American heartland, implicating the viewers in a more complex narrative about who gets to be an American and who defines the visual language of the nation. In doing so, Parks acknowledges the emotional and personal cost of the labor performed by people like Watson.