Powerful Chess Photograph

I ran across this photo today.  Blew me away.  I realize that photographers sometimes set the stage for pictures, and of course I don't know if that was done here.  Either way, I feel this is an amazing image, and a real testament to the game of chess.

© Cornell Capa, March 1972: Inmates playing chess from prison cells, Attica Correctional Facility, Attica, New York

Here's the webpage where I initially found this photograph, and it contains additional chess related photographs.  

https://fansinaflashbulb.wordpress.com/2016/11/26/chess-1950s-1970s/

that warms my heart

A Chris Steele-Perkins photo

New arrivals at prison. Johannesburg, South Africa, 1995

It is an amazing image. It's also a testament to the humanity of the prisoners. Their humanity was in question in the events leading up to the Attica Prison Riot (riot is the wrong word) of 1971 in which the prisoners took over the prison, attempted to negotiate for better conditions, and were brutally slaughtered during the attack that retook control of the prison.

The more you know about this historic event, the more you comprehend about what the photographer was doing.

Thanks for this reminder!