29 March 2011Last updated at 14:00

In pictures: The American Dream

Dream street sign in Pittsburgh. Pennsylvania, 1955

The American Dream is an idea that promotes prosperity for those who work hard and show courage and determination, an ideal closely entwined with popular culture and around which a visual mythology has evolved. Here we present work by a number of photographers from the Magnum Photo Agency who have captured aspects of the American Dream.

High school teenagers at a coffee shop, New York, 1956

The 1950s saw the US emerge from the post war years and look to the future. Photographer Eve Arnold spent much of her time photographing film stars, but her sharp eye also focused on everyday life and the youth of America.

Part of a series by photographer Danny Lyon entitled, The Bikeriders.

The freedom of the open road is deeply rooted in the USA and photographer Danny Lyon's pictures of the Chicago Outlaws Motorcycle Club captured the growing youth movements of the 1960s.

The right to keep and bear arms is enshrined in the US Constitution, here Henri Cartier-Bresson photographed children playing with toy guns on the streets of New York.

Marilyn Monroe during the filming of The Misfits, 1960

The stars of the silver screen embodied the belief in the American Dream and its spread around the globe. Stars such as Marilyn Monroe, photographed here by Cornell Capa...

And this picture of James Dean by Dennis Stock created a mythology around the US that has lasted to this day.

Martin Luther King Jr delivers his "I Have A Dream" speech in Washington DC

Civil rights leaders, including Martin Luther King Jr, seen here as he delivered his "I Have A Dream" speech in Washington DC, helped change the country and open up the ideals of the American Dream for all.

Politically the US exported the notion of the American Dream far and wide. Some welcomed it, in other places it led to conflict such as the war in Vietnam during the 1960s and '70s.

Children queue at the American Dream Park in Shanghai, 1997

The US stars and stripes is for some a symbol of freedom and prosperity that can be found around the globe.

An abandoned skyscraper in Detroit, 2009

The recent economic downturn has led to financial pressures and the collapse of the once prosperous car industry in Detroit has left the city struggling, and many properties have been abandoned.

The iconography of the US continues to have worldwide appeal to each new generation.

US & Canada

In pictures: The American Dream

Share this page

Services

About BBC News