New York Stevedores and Boxcar after 1957

Gordon Parks created this black and white photograph, "New York Stevedores and Boxcar," which captures a moment of labor and life. Parks, working at a time when documentary photography was evolving, was deeply committed to social justice. He used his camera to document the lives and struggles of African Americans in the mid-20th century. This image presents a scene of labor, the stevedores, mostly men, working on and around a boxcar. The photograph invites a dialogue about race, labor, and identity. The figures are caught in a moment of hard work. The man in the foreground smoking a cigarette, appears to be the only one taking a break. His identity as a Black man adds layers to the narrative. Parks once said, “I suffered evils, but without allowing them to rob me of the freedom to expand.” The photograph serves not just as a record, but as a narrative, inviting us to consider the realities of these workers and the socio-economic structures that shaped their lives.