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'Many Are Called': Walker Evans' Subway Photos

In the late 1930s, photographer Walker Evans and writer James Agee collaborated on Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, an extraordinary portrait of rural sharecroppers in the Deep South. While working on the book, the two men created another lesser-known work: Many Are Called, a three-year photographic study of people on the New York subway. Using a hidden camera, Evans snapped unsuspecting passengers traveling around the city.

First published in 1966 with an introduction written by Agee, Many Are Called has long been out of print. The book has just been reissued, and provides a glimpse into the unguarded moments of Depression-era Americans. NPR's Jennifer Ludden speaks with Jeff Rosenheim, curator at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art and author of the book's afterward.

Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Jennifer Ludden helps edit energy and environment stories for NPR's National Desk, working with NPR staffers and a team of public radio reporters across the country. They track the shift to clean energy, state and federal policy moves, and how people and communities are coping with the mounting impacts of climate change.

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SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de Connecticut Public, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.