This photo was taken in a black-only school in Alabama in 1956 by photographer Gordon Parks, who documented inequality and discrimination across the southern United States during the enactment of the Jim Crow laws. This photo is a longshot, taken at medium exposure, and captured with early photo film.

Using a large Field of view, Parks captures the setting of the classroom, allowing the viewer to see the 3 walls of the room. The colour captured in the image is bleak and depressing-like, giving context as to what the students experience at this school. Going on with the student experience, the disorganisation in the students desk reveals that little to no learning can be done, with no tables to work from, and nowhere to store school supplies. It is in complete contrast to what the Western world considers adequate schooling. The rule of thirds breaks down the image into the roof (negative space), walls and an empty blackboard, and the disorganised chairs. The image gives off the sentiment of poverty by the fact that there isn’t a proper door to the classroom, the floor is dirty, the only source of lighting is the window above the doorway to the right, and that the only source of heating is the old boiler in the middle of the room.

What can I improve this time?

• Develop a thesis in the introduction
• Add and develop topic sentence to better fit the thesis
• Connect the points together (make the essay less disjointed)

Introduction: Langston Hughes was an African American poet, who was raised in New York. Growing up in Harlem throughout the 1920s to the 1960s, Hughes was able to see first-hand how racial discrimination impoverished communities and the social impacts which were caused by blatant segregation. His focus on the lives of black and white America, and focusing on black culture and identities are a key motif repeated in his poetry. His first and most iconic poem, “The Negro speaks of Rivers” drafted in 1921, speaks to the African American community, connecting it back to its roots and heritage in the African sub-continent. “The Weary Blues” written in 1926 encapsulates the Harlem renaissance by expressing the emotions and feelings that Blues carry.