Teach Critically

Reading Class: The American Dream in Photographs

By

Louisa Rogers

—

2–3 minutes

To read

Exercise Title: Reading Class: The American Dream in Photographs

Target age: Students aged 14-15

Time: 30 minutes

Image Context: This photograph shows the Frick-Blanchard family in the 1950s, a wealthy American family posing in their garden.

Learning Objectives:

  • Analyze how wealth and social class are visually communicated
  • Question whose stories get preserved and displayed
  • Understand the gap between idealized representations and lived realities

Materials Needed:

  • The Frick-Blanchard family photograph
  • Paper/notebooks
  • 30 minutes

Part 1: Individual Response (5 minutes)

Look at the photograph silently for one minute. Then write down:

  • Three words that describe how this image makes you feel
  • What story do you think this photograph is trying to tell?
  • Does this family look like families you know? Why or why not?

Part 2: Visual Analysis (10 minutes)

Work with a partner to examine the details. Use these prompts:

Setting & Composition:

  • Where was this photo taken? What does the location tell us?
  • How are the people arranged?
  • What’s included in the frame?

Clothing & Objects:

  • Describe what each person is wearing
  • What does their clothing tell us about their social class in the 1950s?

Poses & Expressions:

  • How are people standing or holding themselves?
  • What are their facial expressions?
  • Does this look natural or staged? Why might that matter?

Part 3: Context & Critique (10 minutes)

Discuss as a class:

About This Image:

  • This is a professional photograph of a wealthy family. Why might they have had this photo taken?
  • Who had access to color photography in the 1950s? What does that tell us?
  • This photo has been preserved and is now labelled in an archive. Whose family photos get saved in this way?

The Bigger Picture:

  • The 1950s are often called America’s “golden age.” For whom was it golden?
  • What kinds of families were left out of this idealized image of American life in the 1950s? Consider: race, class, single parents, working mothers, immigrant families, LGBTQ+ families
  • How do images like this shape our understanding of history?

Part 4: Making Connections (5 minutes)

Individual reflection – write responses to one or more:

  • What images of “the perfect family” do we see today? (social media, advertising, TV)
  • Who benefits when only certain types of families are shown as “ideal”?
  • Why does it matter whose stories get photographed, preserved, and displayed?

Extension Questions for Further Discussion:

  • How did the economic reality of 1950s America differ from images like this? (Research: housing discrimination, wage gaps, women’s limited career options)
  • What labor might have been required to maintain this lifestyle? Who did that labor? Why aren’t they in the picture?
  • How do archives and museums choose what to preserve? Whose perspectives shape those choices?

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