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DANIEL BAGAN
The Story Behind the Photograph
In 2013, I photographed Gloria Steinem and Dorothy Pitman Hughes as they recreated the iconic raised-fist portrait first made of them by photographer Dan Wynn in 1971.
More than forty years separated the two photographs, but their friendship, strength, and shared commitment to racial and gender equality remained unmistakable.
What struck me most was that this did not feel like a simple reenactment. Their history together gave the portrait a meaning of its own. It was not merely a recreation of an important photograph, but another chapter in the lives of two women whose friendship and activism had endured for decades.
The 2013 portrait has since become part of the permanent collection of the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery. Prints have also entered institutional collections at the Spencer Museum of Art at the University of Kansas, Smith College, the University of North Florida, and the Museum of the City of New York.
At the Spencer Museum of Art, the 2013 portrait was exhibited alongside Dan Wynn’s original 1971 photograph in Politics, Race, Celebrity: Photographs from the Esquire Collection. The Museum of the City of New York included the portrait in Beyond Suffrage: A Century of New York Women in Politics, further placing the photograph within the historical record of the women’s movement and the continuing struggle for equality.
With both Gloria Steinem and Dorothy Pitman Hughes now gone, the portrait has taken
on added meaning for me.What began as a photograph of two friends
revisiting an extraordinary moment in their liveshas itself become part of their history.
I am proud to have captured this later chapter in the story of two remarkable women
whose friendship, courage, and influence continue to inspire.
HISTORY
The photograph of Gloria Steinem and Dorothy Pitman Hughes was taken by photographer Dan Wynn and first appeared in the October 1971 issue of Esquire magazine as part of Leonard Levitt’s article, “She: The Awesome Power of Gloria Steinem.” Because Esquire was written primarily for men, the article’s tone and emphasis may not be what today’s reader expects. Viewed more than fifty years later, it reveals as much about the media and attitudes of the time as it does about the women it presented.
DOROTHY PITMAN HUGHES
Dorothy Pitman Hughes was a pioneering Black feminist, community organizer, child-welfare advocate, speaker and entrepreneur. After moving to New York City in 1957, she established a community childcare center that developed into the West Side Community Alliance. It was there that she met Gloria Steinem, who came to interview her. Their friendship grew into a national speaking partnership addressing race, gender and equality.
Hughes went on to co-found the Women’s Action Alliance and the National Black Feminist Organization. Her life and work extended far beyond the celebrated raised-fist portrait, making her an essential—and too often overlooked—figure in the history of American feminism and community activism.
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