The Bigger Picture

Can the spectacle of modern politics today be traced back to a photograph of Abraham Lincoln taken during the presidential election in 1860? Host Vincent Brown reveals the specific choices made by Lincoln and renowned portrait photographer Mathew Brady in hopes of casting the candidate as presidential in his iconic 1860 portrait.

How did the “Blue Marble,” as it is now known, come to be? Host Vincent Brown learns just how extraordinary a technical feat it was for Apollo 17 astronauts to snap the photograph in 1972, and how early environmentalists hoped that an image of the whole Earth might spark a desire to protect our planet.

How does an image become “iconic?” And when it does, will its meaning change? Host Vincent Brown explores these questions as he zooms in on one of the most well-known photos from September 11: “Raising the Flag at Ground Zero.” Photographer Thomas E. Franklin talks about the instant he captured the actions of the firefighters and the experience of watching his work become a cultural phenomenon.

Host Vincent Brown challenges a common assumption about a photo of ethnographer Frances Densmore and Piegan Blackfeet tribe leader Mountain Chief: that Densmore is recording a “dying culture.” Brown visits the Library of Congress to hear an original recording of Mountain Chief and travels to Montana to discuss the vitality of Blackfeet culture today with artist and teacher Jesse DesRosier.

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.

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.

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.”