Bowdoin College Museum of Art | - Unemployment Demonstration/March, Washington, D.C.

Preview image of work. gelatin silver print, Unemployment Demonstration/March, Washington, D.C. 22521

2010.68.152

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Unemployment Demonstration/March, Washington, D.C.

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Artists

Ernest Lindsay, U.S. Forest Service Photographer ; Artist Unidentified

Title

Unemployment Demonstration/March, Washington, D.C.

Creation Date

12/6/1932

Century

early 20th century

Dimensions

7 in. x 9 in. (17.78 cm x 22.86 cm)

Classification

Photographs

Creation Place

North America, United States

Medium and Support

gelatin silver print

Credit Line

Gift of Isaac Lagnado, Class of 1971

Copyright

This artwork may be under copyright. For further information, please consult the Museum’s Copyright Terms and Conditions.

Accession Number

2010.68.152

At the height of the Great Depression, reform activists staged a series of demonstrations in cities across the nation, hoping to draw attention to the plight of the unemployed. In December 1932, only weeks after Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s election as president, a “Hunger Army” of more than 3,000 marchers arrived in Washington, D.C. to petition Congress for a moratorium on mortgages, taxes, and interest payments and an end to evictions and foreclosures during this period of economic despair. With unemployment exceeding 23% nationally and winter approaching, many organizations—some affiliated with the Communist Party of the United States—sought relief for the poor. “We are not looking for trouble,” exclaimed one marcher in front of the U.S. Capitol. “We want only food and shelter.” While police and local authorities feared rioting, the march in Washington occurred largely without incident. Not until 1941 would the unemployment rate again fall below 10%.