Gordon Parks' most famous photograph,
American Gothic, Washington, D.C., which was the first one he took during his stint working for the
Farm Security Administration. This portrait of government
cleaning woman Ella Watson shows her standing stiffly in front of an
American flag with a broom in her right hand and a mop in the background. Its polemic nature and its duality of victim and survivor gave it a resonance that deeply affected many of its viewers.
Photo credit: Gordon Parks