March On Wash Poster Analysis

The event on fighting for equality, fighting against discrimination and had the renowned speech, “I Have A Dream” was the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom (or the March on Washington) that happened on August 28, 1963. There are many images relating to this event. In this paper, three images are analyze based upon its composition, color, and the people. The photograph, “March on Wash[ington], D.C./[WKL]” is by Warren K. Leffler, the “March on Washington Mall” and March on Washington Mall in aerial view are from the History.com website. Leffler is an American photographer who worked for the U.S. News & World Report in Washington, D.C. The website, History.com (History) is a U.S. TV network that launched on January 1, 1995 with its headquarters

In figure 1, it is easy to tell what clothes the people are wearing, their facial expressions, and what they are doing because the photo is up close. Furthermore, some people have cameras and a few of them have signs and flags. Since the majority of the protesters are standing up and some are sitting by the pool, it makes the image partially packed on the right side. In the aerial view of the march (Figure 2), the bottom of the image is denser or packed with the protesters and less packed when heading towards the monument. When zooming in on the image, the viewer can see people sitting on chairs and grass, some standing, and some on a short stage. In Leffler’s photo (Figure 3), a variety of people, from soldiers or officers to civilians are at the march. From where the photographer stood to take the picture, there are some empty chairs where the protesters are sitting. Also, there are young and old people present in the march. Having the different perspectives of the people in the photographs shows the diversity of the protesters involved in the march. The aerial view of the march gives the audience a better idea of the statistic that there were more than 200,000 protesters (History.com Staff 2009). When there is a statistic on how many protesters there were, it would not make sense to use figure 1 and figure 3 to depict the stats. Figure 1 only shows one side of the protesters by the mall pool, and figure 3 looks vague due to the black and white photograph, which makes it difficult for the viewer to decipher if there are protesters on either side of the pool. Figures 1 and 3 could have left a misconception to the viewer that there were not 200,000 protesters at the March on Washington. On the other hand, figures 1 and 3 are acceptable photographs to help the audience to see the diversity that did take place in 1963. Seeing how the protesters in all three images are sitting or standing, it