Once the Office of War Information (OWI) took over in 1942, pictures of urban schools appeared in profusion. The intent of OWI photos was purely propagandistic – to portray the war-time ideal emphasizing health, welfare, and patriotism. Well-to-do successful schools were photographed to show a wide range of activities: medical care, lunch, art, theater, music, progressive educational techniques, and modern equipment. In 1943 Philip Bonn made more than 150 exposures in Schenectady, New York including photographs with the titles: “Story reading time in the school library at the Elmer Avenue Elementary School”; “Art class at the Oneida School”; and, “Music class orchestra rehearsal at the Oneida School”. Figure 7 (bottom left) shows a visit from the doctor who gives each child a check-up. Bonn’s assignment encompassing several schools shows prosperous urban school systems (Margolis 2005).

Under the OWI patriotism was highlighted. Indicative of this shift is the fact that before 1942 there was only a single FSA image of saluting the flag while18 shots of pledging allegiance to the flag were taken in 1942-43. War time activities involving urban school children were extensively documented: scrap drives collecting rubber, paper, and metal; buying victory bonds and stamps; learning first aid; and so on. The images intimately connect school children with the local and national community. Figure 7 (bottom right) is typical of many depicting school children conducting scrap drives as part of the war effort.

My favorite photograph from the FSA/OWI collection (figure 8) is different – an enigmatic and atypical image. There are very few photographs of schools for children of the well-to-do in any of the virtual archives [10]. An exception is a group of sixty-four shots 12 from a country day school in Wilmington, Delaware. Curiously, for this well-documented collection, the date is uncertainly put as 1942 or 43 and no photographer is listed. The photos of school work depict child centered and progressive educational practices; children are shown “learning by doing” much like the F.B. Johnston photos from nearly half a century earlier. The one that caught my eye, pricked me, shows six high school girls and a male teacher standing in a muddy city back street. They examine a brick row house; in the background, almost out of the frame, stands a Black man. The caption suggests they are a social science class studying alley dwellings. This photograph stands as a trope for the whole FSA/OWI project. It is as if the whole structure of liberal documentary is being reproduced in this photograph of well dressed, well educated, well-to-do students inspecting the homes of poor people.

The photograph also illustrates Roland Barthes (1981:22-26) second way that photographs establish meaning: “punctum.” The first form of punctum is “that accident, which pricks, bruises me”. It is punctum that connects photography to art “annihilat(ing) itself as a medium to be no longer a sign but the thing itself…”. Barthes second form of punctum is “time”; it has to do with the indexical quality that directs our attention to that which is not there. Barthes famously called photographs “flat death” — the students and teacher whose image the photographer left with us are not there, but were once. As snippets of time past, punctum makes us aware of our own mortality. For me, at least, figure 8 does that. It also has Barthes quality of studium that makes it an interesting historical image.

During the New Deal and the war years schools began to take on new functions. School lunch programs were implemented both to nourish poor children and to make it easier for mothers working in the labor force. Dentists, doctors, and school nurses were employed to conduct annual physical exams and to provide medical care. Simultaneously the use of aptitude and achievement tests became widespread, as did “scientific” tracking of students into vocational, general, and college preparation programs. Figure 9 (left) suggests all of these developments. It is from a small collection of photographs made by the Office of War Information for an overseas traveling exhibition showing the strengths of American schools. Taken in Yonkers, New York in 1943, the photos are in the Library of Congress but have not been digitized. They were clearly propaganda not documentary, posed to make political points, the caption to figure 9 (left) reads: «When children are found not up to par, their mothers are asked to visit the nurse to go over their records to try to find a solution. When a mother realizes her child should not attempt to keep up with the rest of the class, she is at liberty to consult with the nurse.»

In the 1950’s and 60’s new sources of anxiety coursed through urban schools. Hydrogen bombs, the cold war, and intercontinental ballistic missiles led to duck and cover drills. The caption to Figure 9 (center) reads: “Students of the 5th and 6th grades at Elysian Heights School are shown in a school hallway as they practiced the «take cover» drill. School children throughout Los Angeles County are being briefed on procedures in the event of a national emergency. This is a drill ordered for the school children. Photo dated: October 29, 1962.” We should assume that even more than the fire drill in image one, there were hidden disciplines of obedience and order in these activities. Neither teachers nor students really thought that this would protect against an atomic blast. This photograph bruises and makes me aware of mortality as well; 3000 miles away in New York I was also ducking and covering. After Brown v. Board of Education in 1954, not only did civil right movements engulf the entire country, but students took an active part in resisting, confronting, and organizing against schools and school boards (Williams 1987, Giroux 1983). The entire apparatus of pedagogic authority (Bourdieu 1990) was thrown into a crisis of legitimacy. Urban schools were in the forefront of demonstrations for racial integration, bi-lingual instruction, free speech, culturally sensitive and relevant curricula, the repeal of dress codes, community control and more democratic decision making (Munoz 1989). Teachers, students, and parents marched, satin and boycotted schools to bring pressure on school authorities. Groups advocating community control clashed with teachers unions, Whites objecting to integration clashed with federal troops, school busses were stoned, and riots broke out (Blauner 1972; Marable 1984; Williams 1987). All of this was played out in front of cameras. News magazines like Look and Life, local and national newspapers published thousands of photographs showing the turmoil that gripped American schools. I selected figure 9 (left), from the Herald-Examiner collection, because it is peaceful, because is shows young students protesting for a social goal, and because Black and White children had channeled resistance into an organized political action (Gitlin 1987) (And perhaps also because it is so similar in composition to figure 9 center). I especially like the fact that they are doing their schoolwork in what were called “study-ins”. The caption reads: “Sit-in for school integration in the Board of Education hallway on October 24, 1963.” Needless to say many at the time saw these images as symbolizing a breakdown in law and order and as a threat to authority.