Dorothea Lange - Migrants

Dorothea Lange was perhaps the most famous of the photographers documenting conditions during the Great Depression. She produced some of the most iconic images of poverty in American history. Some of those are among this set.

 Destitute pea pickers in California. Mother of seven children, age thirty-two, Nipomo, California, 1936

This is the best-known image to come out of the Great Depression. Sometimes it is given the title "Migrant Mother." (The link tells who this person is and some of her story.) The following picture is another one of her.

 Migrant agricultural worker's family. Seven hungry children. Mother aged thirty-two. Father is a native Californian. Destitute in pea picker's camp, Nipomo, California, 1936

 Once a Missouri farmer, now a migratory farm laborer on the Pacific Coast. California, 1936

 Mother and baby of family on the road. Tulelake, Siskiyou County, California, 1939

 Calipatria, Imperial Valley, in FSA emergency migratory labor camp, 1939

 Daughter of migrant Tennessee coal miner. Living in American River camp near Sacramento, California, 1936

The final three pictures in this set are all of the same family. Eleven children...how did they survive?

 Family in FSA migratory labor camp, Brawley, Imperial Valley, 1939

 Family originally from Mangrum, Oklahoma in FSA migratory labor camp, Brawley, Imperial Valley, 1939

FSA migrant labor camp during pea harvest. Family from Oklahoma with eleven children, 1939

Russell Lee - Musicians

More of Russell Lee, this time photos of musicians (both professional and amateur) doing their thing.

 Boy playing and singing "Sipping cider through a straw" at pie supper in Muskogee County, Oklahoma, 1940

 Cajun musicians at fais-do-do at National Rice Festival. Crowley, Louisiana, 1938

A fais-do-do is a Cajun dance party. The Wikipedia link tells the origin of the term, which is pretty interesting.

 Entertainers at Negro tavern, Chicago, Illinois, 1941

I am adopting the convention on this blog of using original captions for photos, even if they use dated terms like "Negro" or "colored." No offense is intended through the reproduction of these historical terms (if photos have captions with the more insulting terms that were also in common use, I won't use them).

 Farm worker and his wife in their cottage at the FSA labor camp, Caldwell, Idaho, 1941

Farmer and his brother making music, Pie Town, New Mexico, 1940

 Fruit farmer's wife playing piano, Placer County, California, 1940

 George Hutton, farmer from Maud, Oklahoma, playing his violin which he made, Pie Town, New Mexico, 1940

This fellow is a pretty accomplished woodworker to have made his own violin!

 Guitar player and singers at play party in McIntosh County, Oklahoma, 1940

 Lon Allen and his son playing their fiddles to the tune of The Arkansas Traveler, near Iron River, Michigan, 1937

 Mexican boy playing guitar in room of corral, Robstown, Texas, 1939

Musicians at the square dance, Pie Town, New Mexico, 1940

Russell Lee - Farm families

Here are photos of American farm families from the late 1930s. Most were poverty-stricken. Some were clients of the Farm Security Administration, created during the New Deal in 1935 to help alleviate rural poverty.

 FSA clients near Carutherville, Missouri, 1938

Family of FSA client shredding cabbage, Southeast Missouri Farms, 1938

 Family of FSA client, former sharecropper, on porch of old shack home, New Madrid County, Missouri, 1938

Family of Glen Cook, who rents his farm from a loan company, Woodbury County, Iowa, 1936

 Family of Henry McPeak, near Black River Falls, Wisconsin, 1937

 Mother and child former sharecropper, now FSA clients, Southeast Missouri Farms, 1938

 J. Donnell Champion and his two children who received a start from resettlement, 1936

Gernie Marshall and family, near Ringgold, Iowa, 1937

 Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Ostermeyer, homesteaders, Miller Township, Woodbury County, Iowa, 1936

 Mr. and Mrs. Charles Banta, farmers near Anthon, Iowa, 1936

 Mr. and Mrs. Marcus Miller and dog, Spencer, Iowa, 1936

 Part of Alfred Atkinson family, a tenant farmer of eighty acres near Shannon City, Ringgold County, Iowa, 1936

 Part of sharecropper family on porch of cabin, 1938

 Sharecropper family on front porch of cabin, Southeast Missouri Farms, 1938

 Sharecropper with two grandchildren, Southeast Missouri Farms, 1938

The Earl Taylor family near Black River Falls, Wisconsin, 1937

Russell Lee - Kids in poverty

Here are more photos from Russell Lee. This group focuses on children living in poverty.

 Children of Frank Moody, Miller Township, Woodbury County, Iowa, 1936

 One of John Scott's children recovering from a severe attack of pneumonia, Ringgold, Iowa, 1937

 Child of relief worker living in two-room shack home, Caruthersville, Missouri, 1938

 Children of day laborer work in cane fields near New Iberia, Louisiana, 1938

 Children of FSA client, former sharecropper, Southeast Missouri Farms, 1938

Family of sharecropper, cut-over farmer of Mississippi bottoms, 1938

 Interior of house without windows, home of sharecropper,
cut-over farmer of Mississippi bottoms, 1938

 Mother washing children’s feet in a sharecropper’s shack in Missouri, 1938

 Children of squatters and migrants living on Nueces Bay, Corpus Christi, Texas, 1939

 Front porch of tenant farmer's house near Warner, Oklahoma, 1939

 Migrant child, near Harlingen, Texas, 1939

 Migrant children playing in front of tent, Harlingen, Texas, 1939

 Migrant children sitting in back seat of family car east of
Fort Gibson, Muskogee County, Oklahoma, 1939

 Outdoor stove, washstand and other household equipment
of migrant family near Harlingen, Texas, 1939

 Twelve-year-old girl who keeps house in a trailer for her three brothers who are migrant workers, near Harlingen, Texas, 1939

Children of miners standing in their tattered clothes, 1946