By Amanda Gaffoor, Caitlin Gregory, Patricia Charles, Kimmy Koo, and Taylor Kuikman
Early Documentary Photography
In the early nineteen-hundreds, photographers were beginning to realize that using photos of people or situations was a great way to expose the truth. An example of this was Alfred Stieglitz’s exhibit at the Albright Art Museum called “Pictorialism”. It collected photos from a variety of sources that had documented various images in the late nineteenth to early twentieth century.
An example of a Pictorialist photograph from Alfred Steiglitz
There are many other examples of people who began to use photos as a way to document and support a story. Jacob Riis began using photos in his newspaper columns, Lewis Hine became a staff photographer at the National Children Labor Committee so that they would have concrete proof of children in sweatshops, factories, and street trades.
World War I started a new trend where every single aspect had to be documented, and taking the time that Pictorialists would normally take to document one photo was no longer feasible. This began what we now know as documentary and journalist photography, where many photos are taken and then weeded through for the best ones.
The Great Depression
The Great Depression project has such a great impact on society because it allows civilization today to understand what the great depression was all about. Through photographs we are able to put ourselves in a historic position and imagine what it must have been like to have gone through such a terrible time.
“I saw and approached the hungry and desperate mother, as if drawn by a magnet. I do not remember how I explained my presence or my camera to her, but I do remember she asked me no questions. I made five exposures, working closer and closer from the same direction. I did not ask her name or her history. She told me her age, that she was thirty-two. She said that they had been living on frozen vegetables from the surrounding fields, and birds that the children killed. She had just sold the tires from her car to buy food. There she sat in that lean- to tent with her children huddled around her, and seemed to know that my pictures might help her, and so she helped me. There was a sort of equality about it” – Dorothy lange (From: Popular Photography, Feb. 1960).
This photograph is of the Migrant mother. It is one of many other photographs taken by a lady named Dorothea Lange. During the great Depression this photograph was taken because it stood out from every other unfortunate scene. With nothing left except for a tent and her children, the Migrant Mother didn’t object to getting her picture taken. Today, we see the impact the Great Depression had. We cannot feel what the Migrant Mother and her children felt, but we can see by the expressions on their faces and their surroundings that this was a memorable, terrible experience that would go down in history.
A Photo Essay on the Great Depression
The Great Depression started in 1929 in the U.S. but became worldwide news on the day known as Black Tuesday, October 29, 1929; the day the stock market crashed, and went on until the early 1940’s. With the crash of the stock market many banks were forced to close because a large portion of their clients’ savings were invested into the stock market. This cause even more panic across the country.
Not only did businesses and industry get affect during this time but farmers, who in pass depressions were unaffected, did as well due to the drought and horrible dust storms. These weather conditions were worst in history. By 1934 the Great Plains, from North Dakota to Texas, from the Mississippi River Valley to the Rockies had all dried up.
Farmer and sons, dust storm, Cimarron County, Oklahoma, 1936. Photographer: Arthur Rothstein.
Many were left unemployed and some even homeless. Those who were fortunate to have a job still felt very unsecure with them.
Squatter camp, California, November 1936. Photographer: Dorothea Lange.
Part of the daily lineup outside the State Employment Service Office. Memphis, Tennessee. June 1938. Photographer: Dorothea Lange.
The FSA Photo Project
The FSA photo project is a collection of photographs of America and its people from the Great Depression to World War II. It shows the impact that very great and sometimes terrible situations had on the people and how they managed to survive. Many of the photos in this blog have been taken from the FSA photo project.
The Other Migrant Mother
The great depression impacted several countries world-wide. One of the most signature pictures of the great depression era is the Migrant Mother. The photograph itself was taken by Dorothea Lange in a peapicker camp near Nipomo, California in 1936. The photograph depicts a 32-year-old mother of seven children.
The image above shows the migrant mother with three of her children; one where she is holding and two huddling against their mother. When Lange shot the photographs of the migrant mother, she was unsure to what attracted her to the mother but in respect, the mother asked that no questions were to be asked. The migrant mother provided her age of 32 and that her and her children have been living off frozen vegetables and birds her children had killed. Although this mother was hungry and desperate, she knew that Lange’s photographs would eventually help her and her family out.
Lange was able to successfully send food their way after she had gone back to her employer in Washington. These photographs were also sent and featured in the San Francisco News and were placed as an iconic picture in the New Deal agenda.
The New Deal agenda had a mission to improve the conditions for farmers and sharecroppers hit by the great depression. The goal was to take what everybody could not see – the human side on how pressing the economics factors had on these people.
The fourth picture that Lange photographed wasn’t deemed as popular as the one above only because the newspapers would not have printed a picture of a woman breast-feeding her baby.
Although the above photograph was not deemed popular, Lange’s photographs not only became ionic for the Depression era but also set a genre within photography; the photographs allowed to see the human side on how something such as a depression can affect the way of living. In addition, the genre allowed communication to further travel onto a different level; instead of communicating with just words and voice, it allowed our eyes to convey what the photograph was depicting and how much truth is shown in one single photograph.
Who Was Dorothy Lange’s Migrant Mother?
Dorothea Lange’s Migrant Mother was a lady who went by the name of Florence Owen Thompson. She was the mother of six children and was a Cherokee, but her and her ancestors were forced to move to Oklahoma. This made them lose their Cherokee roots. Dorothea Lange was at the time employed by the Farm Security Association during the Great Depression, where she was able to witness the migrants in a terrible situation, since the crops they came to harvest were destroyed by the cold weather. Florence later became angry when she saw the picture on the newspapers and thought that Lange was using her picture to make money. Instead of doing this Lange had sent the picture to Resettlement Administration in Washington, where aid was later provided to ease the pain of migrants. Florence and her children were embarrassed by the picture; Florence even said that she wished she never took the picture. It was until she became ill and needed immediate care that her son was seeking help. He went to a news reporter and asked for his help. It was now that they all saw the importance of the pictures. Airing the story Florence got help and received more than $35,000 in a migrant mother fund that has been started. Florence’s picture influenced and touched many people and it was because of Dorothea Lange that migrant women awareness was raised, not just for mothers but for all women. It shows that migrant women face many challenges and I think that Dorothea Lange’s photograph of Florence was greatly impacted by the way society looks at migrant women.
CNN: “We Were Ashamed”
The daughter of the Migrant Mother spoke to CNN about the impact the pictures of her family during the Great Depression has on them. She said that they were ashamed to be documented and showcased to the world living that way yet it also pushed them towards a better life. They knew they wanted more than that and seeing this picture made them more determined to do it.
Even though the picture is very defining of the generation, the daughter said that the picture did not define her mother or their family. They wouldn’t let that happen.
This is a great example of how one picture can impact a person’s life in a very big way. Knowing that the picture of their family struggling so much was seen by Americans across the country pushed them to do more and to hold on to things when they got them.
Sources:
Early Documentary Photography
http://webct.georgebrown.ca/webct/urw/lc2044122001.tp0/cobaltMainFrame.dowebct
A Photo essay on the Great Depression
FSA Photo Project
The Other Migrant Mother
Who Was Dorothy Lange’s Migrant Mother?
CNN: The Migrant Mother’s Daughter: “We Were Ashamed”
http://webct.georgebrown.ca/webct/urw/lc2044122001.tp0/cobaltMainFrame.dowebct
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