Laborer (Stevedore Longshoreman, Norfolk, Virginia), from the project The Negro in Virginia

Robert McNeill, Laborer (Stevedore Longshoreman, Norfolk, Virginia), from the project The Negro in Virginia, 1938, gelatin silver print, sheet: 10 x 8 ¹⁄₈ in. (25.4 x 20.6 cm.), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase, 1993.72.10, © 1938, Robert McNeill

Artwork Details

Title: Laborer (Stevedore Longshoreman, Norfolk, Virginia), from the project The Negro in Virginia
Artist: Robert McNeill
Date: 1938
Location: Not on view
Dimensions: sheet: 10 x 8 ¹⁄₈ in. (25.4 x 20.6 cm.)
Copyright: © 1938, Robert McNeill
Credit Line: Museum purchase
Mediums Description: gelatin silver print
Classifications: Photography
Photoprint
Subjects: Figure male — elderly
Landscape — Virginia — Norfolk
Occupation — industry — shipping
African American
Object Number: 1993.72.10
Linked Open Data: https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1993.72.10

Artwork Description

Cropped to focus on a single dockworker, Laborer (Stevedore Longshoreman, Norfolk, Virginia) shows not the labor but the waiting, which sometimes lasted for days because the men were not permitted on the pier until called to work. It is an image of both dignity and resignation. “The look says, ‘what the hell are you doing photographing me,’” remarked McNeill, “and I think it says a lot more.”

African American Art: Harlem Renaissance, Civil Rights Era, and Beyond, 2012