Faces of America: Getting By in Our Economy

Aledrian looks at some new, unfinished homes across the street from where she grew up in Third Ward. "These houses looked nothing like this when we lived here." Kemp is a youth advocate and professional working in workforce development who moved to Third Ward about four years ago. She lived in Third Ward as a child with her mother and siblings and wanted to come back and work in the community. “We were in poverty (growing up). Third Ward has always been community driven however I don’t think we get a lot of resources over here. It’s almost like a desert. If you go up to OST (Old Spanish Trail) there’s hardly any stores over here. Most of the food is unhealthy. There’s a lot of homelessness here. It’s a lot of drug activity. Although there’s a lot of community efforts, I don’t know if it’s because people don’t trust it or they’ve been here all their life to the point where they see, “Hey no one’s going to do anything about it so we just complacent and we’re just gonna keep living and do what we do.” But I like this community. I like it for one because this is where most of the African-Americans who were wealthy back in the day built their homes and it was very family oriented. I do wish that we as African Americans advocated more for the community because they’re about to gentrify it. There’s a lot of white people moving in. We are losing that sense of our community and once that’s gone, that’s it. I went to school here. I went to UH because I felt it was more diverse. They do a lot for Third Ward but it’s almost like a white savior type of thing. (They’re attitude is) “We have this big school, we have all this money, so let’s try to do what we can,” but it’s not intentional. It’s not, “What can we do to lift people up in this community and let their voices be heard.” It’s more like them telling community what they need. As African-Americans we need to advocate more for what we need and stop letting people te
Aledrian looks at some new, unfinished homes across the street from where she grew up in Third Ward. "These houses looked nothing like this when we lived here." Kemp is a youth advocate and professional working in workforce development who moved to Third Ward about four years ago. She lived in Third Ward as a child with her mother and siblings and wanted to come back and work in the community. “We were in poverty (growing up). Third Ward has always been community driven however I don’t think we get a lot of resources over here. It’s almost like a desert. If you go up to OST (Old Spanish Trail) there’s hardly any stores over here. Most of the food is unhealthy. There’s a lot of homelessness here. It’s a lot of drug activity. Although there’s a lot of community efforts, I don’t know if it’s because people don’t trust it or they’ve been here all their life to the point where they see, “Hey no one’s going to do anything about it so we just complacent and we’re just gonna keep living and do what we do.” But I like this community. I like it for one because this is where most of the African-Americans who were wealthy back in the day built their homes and it was very family oriented. I do wish that we as African Americans advocated more for the community because they’re about to gentrify it. There’s a lot of white people moving in. We are losing that sense of our community and once that’s gone, that’s it. I went to school here. I went to UH because I felt it was more diverse. They do a lot for Third Ward but it’s almost like a white savior type of thing. (They’re attitude is) “We have this big school, we have all this money, so let’s try to do what we can,” but it’s not intentional. It’s not, “What can we do to lift people up in this community and let their voices be heard.” It’s more like them telling community what they need. As African-Americans we need to advocate more for what we need and stop letting people te

In the 1930s, amid the greatest economic crisis in American history, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt launched numerous initiatives to help the nation get back on its feet, among them a documentary photography project. From 1935 to 1944, the Farm Security Administration commissioned more than a dozen photographers to record conditions in the country’s hard-hit rural areas. The photographers’ mission was to “introduc[e] America to Americans,” to highlight people who had been overlooked.

The economic situation in the United States today bears little resemblance to the Great Depression. However, many challenges facing Americans today would feel familiar to the FSA photographers of the 1930s. Even after significant improvements over the last few decades, many households lack financial stability, and many communities are not able to provide residents opportunities for a better life. These economic problems are intertwined with challenges facing American democracy. Many of those who have not benefited from economic growth—and even many who have—feel left out of institutions they believe do not look after their interests.

At this moment of increased distrust, it is important once again to introduce America to Americans.

Nicole Wynd, 41 is a single mother of three. She lives in Porterville, Ca working as a director of marketing among many side jobs, building websites, taking senior portraits, consulting with non-profits and selling cookies during Christmas.
Nicole Wynd, 41 is a single mother of three. She lives in Porterville, Ca working as a director of marketing among many side jobs, building websites, taking senior portraits, consulting with non-profits and selling cookies during Christmas.
Mohammad Jaafar receives a haircut from his barber Ali Nasraldin. Both men are Lebanese Americans and originate from the same small village of Qmatiye in central Lebanon. Ali immigrated to the US in 2011 from Lebanon to create a better life for him and his family. In Lebanon Ali was working as a barber for many years and like many in Lebanon was struggling to get by. Ali’s immigration to Dearborn has allowed him to support his family and save up enough to visit Lebanon at least twice a year. Ali is well aware of the current ongoing economic crisis in Lebanon and how much his family back home relies on him. He appreciates his salary in Dearborn for what it is. It allows him to get by every month and to help out family back home with financial support. Mohammad gets his haircut at least once a month and looks forward to the day where he gets his “Dearborn fade”, a common haircut among Dearborn’s Arab male population. Mohammad says, “Even if it is just a small act of pampering, everyone in Dearborn, regardless of income, gets a fresh fade. We exist in a world built around stress over finances. Whether it is my car payment, student loan debt, or bills. Being able to at least pamper myself once a month in order to look and feel well-groomed is important to me.”
Mohammad Jaafar receives a haircut from his barber Ali Nasraldin. Both men are Lebanese Americans and originate from the same small village of Qmatiye in central Lebanon. Ali immigrated to the US in 2011 from Lebanon to create a better life for him and his family. In Lebanon Ali was working as a barber for many years and like many in Lebanon was struggling to get by. Ali’s immigration to Dearborn has allowed him to support his family and save up enough to visit Lebanon at least twice a year. Ali is well aware of the current ongoing economic crisis in Lebanon and how much his family back home relies on him. He appreciates his salary in Dearborn for what it is. It allows him to get by every month and to help out family back home with financial support. Mohammad gets his haircut at least once a month and looks forward to the day where he gets his “Dearborn fade”, a common haircut among Dearborn’s Arab male population. Mohammad says, “Even if it is just a small act of pampering, everyone in Dearborn, regardless of income, gets a fresh fade. We exist in a world built around stress over finances. Whether it is my car payment, student loan debt, or bills. Being able to at least pamper myself once a month in order to look and feel well-groomed is important to me.”

Faces of America: Getting By in Our Economy sets out to do just that. A product of the Commission on Reimagining Our Economy from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, this exhibit is made up of images that capture life for working people in the twenty-first-century American economy.

Faces of America seeks to redefine typical images of the economy. Rather than focus on the very rich or the very poor, the Commission engaged four photographers—Caroline Gutman, Maen Hammad, Cindy Elizabeth, and Adam Perez— to capture what it looks like to try to get by in the United States today in communities that fall around the national median income ($70,784 for a household in 2021). The photographs capture Americans in these communities at work, at home, and volunteering to help their neighbors.

Faces of America is divided into three sections that correspond to the values that inform the Commission’s work:

  • Opportunity and Mobility: The ways Americans are building better lives for themselves.
  • Security: How Americans are meeting their basic needs, as well as their efforts to achieve stability.
  • Democracy: The extent to which Americans feel their voice matters in improving their local government and their nation.

This project aims to center median-wage workers in images of the economy and in discussions of economic policy. By introducing these Americans to America, the Commission hopes to offer a new portrait of how Americans are doing and how the nation’s economy and democracy might be reimagined.

Jumain Lark looks at the street at the Sojourner Truth Ministries food pantry before it opens, in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, on August 3, 2022. Lark works at the food pantry mainly as a cook, which he was hired for through Associates for Training and Development (A4TD). Lark's daughter and two grandchildren live with him; his daughter uses the one car to commute to her job at the nearby federal correctional facility, so Lark typically rides his bicycle 20 minutes to work. Lark provides childcare for his grandchildren in the afternoon before his daughter returns from work.
Jumain Lark looks at the street at the Sojourner Truth Ministries food pantry before it opens, in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, on August 3, 2022. Lark works at the food pantry mainly as a cook, which he was hired for through Associates for Training and Development (A4TD). Lark's daughter and two grandchildren live with him; his daughter uses the one car to commute to her job at the nearby federal correctional facility, so Lark typically rides his bicycle 20 minutes to work. Lark provides childcare for his grandchildren in the afternoon before his daughter returns from work.
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