One of the people marching with 300,000 others on that Wednesday in 1963 was Edith Lee-Payne, whose iconic photograph would forever be remembered. Only 12 years old at the time, it’s fair to say she could not have known the power her sad eyes and weary yet determined stare would have. The enduring image is on display at the National Archives until Sept. 9 as part of the celebration of the March on Washington punctuated by a reunion at the Lincoln Memorial on Aug. 28.
Following the March and all that came with the Civil Rights Movement remained the question: How do we institutionalize civil rights? At the National Archives, the photo exhibit Searching for the Seventies: The Documerica Photography Project attempts to answer this question and many more. As the gallery documentation explains, a vibrant political scene marked the 1960s while a booming economy characterized the 1980s. Stuck in the middle, the 70s for some represented only unflattering fashions, silly fads, and Disco music. Despite the greater issues of Watergate and the Vietnam War, it seems the time was lost between two more memorable—or even more likeable—decades.
There is something raw about the images presented in Documeria. The most effective element of the exhibit is its ability to give a face to the people of this lost decade. After all, statistics describing years of mining, unemployment, and high gas prices mean so little in comparison to the powerful emotions of those photographed.
An estimated 16 percent of black males were unemployed, double the rate of whites at the time. In one photograph, a man is seen outside of his home, with eyes brimming stories. Another photograph captures the effects on youth, who were known to cool down with fire hydrants instead of going to the beach, a favorite destination of privileged white families.
Additionally, the United States had begun to see the adverse effects of mining on American laborers. Many mineworkers contracted black lung, and on a different energy frontier the price of gasoline began to skyrocket. Unsurprisingly, more and more people were embracing causes of environmentalism and social justice. One image of people on bicycles outside and another of senior citizens asking for taxation of the rich are different and separate, but together they remind us of who politicians are supposed to represent—constituents, everyday people.
Documerica provides the perfect excuse for new students to head downtown and explore the District. If 300,000 can make it out to the Mall, you can find it in yourself to travel the short metro ride to the National Archives.
