Skip to page content
Artworks

Children in Front of Ocean Hill-Brownsville school, September 20, 1968, 1968

  • Artist

    Fred W. McDarrah

  • Title

    Children in Front of Ocean Hill-Brownsville school, September 20, 1968

  • Date

    1968

  • Medium

    Gelatin print

  • Dimensions

    Image: 16 × 20 in. (40.6 × 50.8 cm) Other (Mat): 18 3/4 × 24 in. (47.6 × 61 cm) Frame: 20 7/8 × 26 1/4 × 1 in. (53 × 66.7 × 2.5 cm)

  • Credit line

    The Studio Museum in Harlem; gift of the artist

  • Object Number

    2001.27.3

Taken in front of John M. Coleman Junior High School 271 in Ocean Hill–Brownsville, Brooklyn, this photograph acknowledges the power of the education system and the responsibility of schools to reflect the communities they serve. By 1965 the majority of public-school students in Ocean Hill–Brownsville were Black or Latinx, while two-thirds of their teachers were white. In response to this disparity in representation, a new community-controlled school system was implemented in 1967. The Teachers Union, viewing Black and Latinx community control as a threat to teacher job security, launched a strike the following year. In this photograph, photojournalist Fred McDarrah captures students standing along the police barriers during the strike.


Explore further
Artworks

Children in Front of Ocean Hill-Brownsville school, September 20, 1968, 1968

  • Artist

    Fred W. McDarrah

  • Title

    Children in Front of Ocean Hill-Brownsville school, September 20, 1968

  • Date

    1968

  • Medium

    Gelatin print

  • Dimensions

    Image: 16 × 20 in. (40.6 × 50.8 cm) Other (Mat): 18 3/4 × 24 in. (47.6 × 61 cm) Frame: 20 7/8 × 26 1/4 × 1 in. (53 × 66.7 × 2.5 cm)

  • Credit line

    The Studio Museum in Harlem; gift of the artist

  • Object Number

    2001.27.3

Taken in front of John M. Coleman Junior High School 271 in Ocean Hill–Brownsville, Brooklyn, this photograph acknowledges the power of the education system and the responsibility of schools to reflect the communities they serve. By 1965 the majority of public-school students in Ocean Hill–Brownsville were Black or Latinx, while two-thirds of their teachers were white. In response to this disparity in representation, a new community-controlled school system was implemented in 1967. The Teachers Union, viewing Black and Latinx community control as a threat to teacher job security, launched a strike the following year. In this photograph, photojournalist Fred McDarrah captures students standing along the police barriers during the strike.


Explore further