Documenting The Great Depression

Why the project has significant impact on the society?

The Farm Security Administration (FSA) was created in 1937 to aid ailing farmers who were suffering from the effect of falling crop prices brought by the Great Depression and agricultural damage caused by the Dust Bowl. Roy Emerson Stryker was the head of a special photographic section in the RA and FSA from 1935-1942. A photographic section was created within the Farm Security Administration covering the period between 1935 and 1942. 77,000 photos were taken in this period portraying Americans within the rural and ‘small-town’ life and the adverse effects the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl, and increasing farm mechanization had on these American citizens. In 1942 the documentary project unit from the FSA moved to the Office of War Information, which contained photographic documentary of America’s mobilization during WWII, displaying conditions such as aircraft factories and women in the workforce by large volumes. All photos are available at the Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress. The project’s documents are available to all of the public to see and learn from; preserved and made available for future generations to visually witness. Sometimes photos posses a stronger power of influence and instigation to learn and retain information rather than words on paper.  This is the significant impact the project has on us; an ongoing awareness of the challenges historical generations had to work through.

Cotton Pickers

18 year old mother, migrant from Oklahoma to California

 What was the role of Migrant Mother photograph in the period or great depression and what is it nowadays?

The Migrant Mother photograph was a representation of the harsh reality of the Great Depression. Dorothea Lange, the photographer of the famous ‘Migrant Mother’, made an account of her experience with the subject, “I saw and approached the hungry and desperate mother, as if drawn by a magnet.” This small take of the statement has great meaning to me. It was rare to see a single mother raising several children in the 20^th century, so I believe the fact that the mother had a tough, enduring role to live up to, unlike any other victim of the Great Depression attracted Dorothea Lange. The mother forced to play her traditional role, but also adapt to the traditional role of the father to lead the survival of her children and herself; displaying a strong sense of empowerment.  

'Migrant Mother'
Photographer: Dorothea Lange

 The role of the Migrant Mother reflects the role of many mothers in current days. Society still has its levels of classes, with families of welfare and poverty in the lower classes. To this day, in a stable economy families still live in barrenness, facing difficulties of supplying their family members with the necessities needed to go on and lead a sustainable life. 81+ years and individuals still live in the fear that many faced in the 30’s and 40’s. 

Works Cited:

1. http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/fsahtml/fahome.html

2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Depression

3. http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/fsahtml/fadocamer.html