The black and white photograph, "The Louisville Flood," was taken in 1937 by photojournalist Margaret Bourke-White. During the time when Bourke-White took this infamous shot, the United States was facing the biggest economic depression in its history. When I inspected the photograph, I noticed a large, eye-catching billboard in the background. It's a well-executed painting of a happy, Caucasian family in a car; a pleasant looking father in the driver's seat, his well-kept and wholesome wife by his side, and two young children in the back seat leaving forward in excitement. Over the car, in bold capital letters are the words, "World's Highest Standard of Living," and "There's no way like the American way." Then my eyes move to the lineup in front of the billboard as you see a long line of people waiting for some sort of aid. This image is made to symbolize poverty as it depicts the stark contrast between America's rich and poor. Meanwhile, our attempts to determine a person's social class have become heavily skewed by the media and its different markets. A good place to judge someone is by their lifestyle and in using Bourke-White's photo as an example will show how that standard of living plays a role in determining class. By evaluating the photo, several factors are publicized in determining someone's class. A person's class consists of one's lifestyle, expression and standard of living. Bourke-White captured the image that documented the state people were in during the Great Depression that affected everyone in the U.S. The billboard propagandized the ideal of an American lifestyle as stated earlier, an image of an American family of four plus a dog are in a car driving in the valley, happy. Whereas the African American families were put out of place from their homes and lost the majority of their belongings during this massive incident as if their life was washed away from the flood. In order to get back on their feet, they were forced to line up to receive shelter, food, or aid. This is an example of a completely different lifestyle from the Americanized billboard located right above them. Meanwhile, in evaluating the photo my eyes were drawn to the people lining up in front of the billboard; as these hungry African Americans who were victims of a catastrophe, stood there waiting for food. The irony here is obvious, while the billboard claims that American status is the "World's Highest Standard of Living," displaced people are lining up below it, desperate for food. Furthermore, in the billboard, you can see everyone smiling, but if you compare their happy faces to those of the people in the line, there is a big di