Langston Hughes sign at May Day Parade, New York City

During the 1930s, John Albok took thousands of pictures of May Day parades. This one shows an interracial group of marchers carrying signs about racial equality. One sign shows a portrait of the “Famous Negro Poet” Langston Hughes, and quotes these lines from his poem, “A New Song: I speak in the name of black millions awakening to action. The Black and White World shall be one: The Workers’ World.”

Image by John Albok from the Tamiment Library Collections, New York University.

View the exhibit Five Photographers for related images.