Victory Bell at University of Southern California, November 22, 1960
The photograph shows a scene of USC students led by two people chanting Fight On in front of the statue of Tommy Trojan. It exemplifies the theme of using photography as a documentation of everyday life and common people, with college students being the subjects in this example. Vernacular photography served to establish the identities of its subjects, and in this photo the subjects are college students showing enthusiasm for their school. College students, at this time, seemed to be more formal in their attire, as many wore khakis and dress shirts, while students today generally prefer shorts, jeans, and t-shirts. Furthermore, perhaps the most prominent feature of the group of students is their demographic makeup. All of the students pictured seem to be white and the overwhelming majority are male, reflective of the student population makeup of colleges at the time. That is in stark contrast to modern-day USC and many other universities, which have become more diverse and gender balanced. However, despite the differences, some things remain constant from back then to know, most notably the unwavering school spirit among the student body in USC. Given what we can observe from the college students in the picture, the identification of subjects in a casual setting - being most true to who they are - made possible here opens a window into what the college environment was like in the 1960s, allowing current USC students to compare what student life was like then with right now.