On June 24, 1974, Movement photographer Bob Fitch — noted for his iconic photographs of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Cesar Chavez, and of the everyday people who powered the social movements of the 1960s and 1970s — took three contact sheets’ worth of pictures at the Oakland Community School.
In the first set of photographs, a small child hugs the leg of a woman, presumably a staff member or teacher at Oakland Community School. The woman is pictured smiling, her hand rested on the child, and then holding the child’s hand. A different woman is pictured holding a different small child, then spinning that child, then several others in turn, around in circles in the air as they both smile and laugh. In one photo, an adult and eight children are shown skipping or running in a circle, perhaps playing a game.
In the photos that follow, a man talks with the children, then spins them around in the air as well. There seems to be a close, playful feeling between the adults and children, exemplary of OCS’s commitment to creating a warm, loving environment for students.
