White passengers sit in the front of the trolley while African-Americans sit in the back, per law that was in place in many Southern states during the time.
“In the back of the trolley is this African American man, who looks out with an almost plaintive expression, questioning expression, about why the world is perhaps this way,” Greenough said, describing the image.
Greenough said that in looking at Frank’s contact sheets, they could tell he had snapped this picture “almost out of the corner of his eye” and without thinking about it, catching the moment through his “immediate intuitive release of the shutter.”
