I recently visited Newseum in Washington, D.C., a museum focusing on the obvious: news, journalism, stories, and the people who tell them all in one building. Spending one day there isn’t enough, so when you purchase a ticket for admission, it’s actually valid for two days. As I navigated through the floors, intrigued by most exhibits, the most powerful exhibit I felt was the last one I experienced: The Pulitzer Prize Photographs Gallery.
This exhibit was the most eerie, yet moving. Pulitzer prize winning photographs, some of which you can find here "...includes each of the photographers and photo staffs who have won the prize since the Pulitzer board began awarding it to photographers in 1942.”
This was the only section the museum that was completely silent, which I didn’t realize until about halfway walking around the gallery.
Hundreds of pictures were displayed, and the passion, fortitude and resilience that these photographers had and faced, goes beyond explanation. They're Pulitzer Price winning for a reason. Going from one polar feeling of joy to sadness, each picture felt as if you were propelled into that exact time of the event.
Pictures say a thousand words. These, added with the captions, evoked emotions that go deeper than what was just captured. These pictures helped start movements, which shifted cultures and turned into novels, stories & ideas worth spreading.
That evening I shared my experience with my father who appreciates and loves journalism, history and everything in between, and he proceeded to show and teach me what he’s learning online.
He spends hours on end on the computer and I’m always curious to know what he’s reading or doing, and on this particular night he shared his love and aspiration to travel to Moscow, specifically Kremlin, by showing me pictures he found on a French news website.
Since this website is in French [and my parents conveniently forgot to teach me French growing up] he proceeded to scroll through each picture, helping me translate what each caption read. As I was learning about Kremlin culture and architecture (and French), I learned how much he loves exploration, history and teaching me what he knows.
Pictures say a thousand words. Captions tell the story. Sharing these experiences with each other spreads across generations, preserving history and culture.