Randy Bazemore

This powerful documentary photograph captures Jimmy Ford, a homeless man navigating the back alleys of Miami Beach in January 1988, pushing a shopping cart filled with his possessions and aluminum cans collected from dumpsters—items gathered for survival in a city defined by sharp contrasts of wealth and visibility.

Photographed by Randy Bazemore, staff photographer for the Miami Herald, the image was taken during a period when homelessness had become increasingly visible in American cities. Rising housing costs, the erosion of social safety nets, untreated mental illness, and limited access to employment left many individuals living entirely in public space.

Ford’s posture—leaning into the weight of the cart—embodies both physical burden and quiet endurance. The alleyway setting underscores how urban life often pushes its most vulnerable residents to the margins, unseen except when documented by the press. The cart functions as home, storage, and livelihood combined—holding clothing, containers, and recyclables exchanged for spare change.

The accompanying Herald cutline identifies Ford by name, a rare and important detail that resists anonymity. Rather than an abstract symbol of poverty, he appears here as a known individual, momentarily acknowledged by the historical record.

Published as an oversize newspaper photograph, this image stands today as a sober document of late-20th-century urban America - a quiet study of resilience, displacement, and the human cost of economic inequality.