The Bigger Picture

The Bigger Picture | Official Trailer

Images can tell powerful stories. One iconic photograph can symbolize an entire era. But if we expand the frame and examine the moment in which it was taken, a very different story can emerge. In this series of documentary shorts, Harvard University historian Dr. Vincent Brown meets with curators, photographers and other experts to challenge common assumptions about iconic American images.

The Bigger Picture | Official Trailer

41s

  • Why Gordon Parks’ Most Famous Photo Almost Wasn’t Released: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Why Gordon Parks’ Most Famous Photo Almost Wasn’t Released

    S1 E7 - 12m 18s

    During World War II, renowned photographer Gordon Parks created an image that was seen as a searing indictment of racial politics in the U.S. with Ella Watson, a cleaner who posed with her mop and broom in front of the American flag. Host Vincent Brown discusses Parks’ motivation for taking the photo, how he worked with Watson and his philosophy that the camera could be used “as a weapon.”

  • How an FBI Poster Became a Black Power Symbol: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    How an FBI Poster Became a Black Power Symbol

    S1 E6 - 14m 24s

    How did an FBI Wanted poster, intended to make a criminal out of activist and academic Angela Y. Davis, transform her into a symbol of Black Power and liberation? Host Vincent Brown considers the impact of Davis’ image and the ways in which style can be a form of political activism. Professor Davis also shares her own complicated feelings about the image, which have evolved over the past 50 years.

  • This Photo of U.S. Immigration Isn’t What You Think: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    This Photo of U.S. Immigration Isn’t What You Think

    S1 E5 - 11m 6s

    Alfred Stieglitz’s iconic photograph “The Steerage” is often used to illustrate the American immigrant experience. Through conversations with curators and historians, host Vincent Brown discovers that there is much more to the image than meets the eye and invites viewers to reconsider common assumptions about immigration to the U.S. in the early 20th century.

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