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Charles Rivers
(1905-1993), the son of Greek immigrant textile workers,
was an iron worker who helped build the Empire State and
Chrysler buildings. He was also a labor organizer and
political activist. Rivers was interested in photography
from an early age and believed that photographs could
inspire social reform. In the early 1930s he took course
at the Workers Film and Photo League. His photographs
of the construction of the Empire State and Chrysler buildings
have been exhibited in museums around the United States.
Finding himself out of work as the Depression deepened,
Rivers became a full-time photographer. He photographed
numerous unemployment marches and rallies for social security,
and public housing during the 1930s. Later, Rivers became
active in Democratic Party politics and worked as a legislative
aide in the New York State Senate. He continued taking
documentary photographs of street demonstrations, slum
housing, and peace marches until well into the 1980s.
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