Migrant Mother [1936]

It is so surprising that this memory disappears in the face of globalisation and large corporate takeovers. People slip through the cracks and are forgotten. We need to revisit this memory of destitution, starvation and uncertainty on our own continent to reawaken the social sensitivity of people whose me-first attitudes should give way to the idea of community, interdependence and “hey, that could just as well be me.”

Remember Florence Owens Thompson and Dorothea Lange!

I learned in my History of Photography class that the reason the children are looking away is not because they are embarrassed, but because they were laughing while Lange was taking the picture. Lange felt that such happy children despite their poverty would not have conveyed the proper message of urgency.

But whas she an immigrant?

She was of Native American decent, Cherokee I believe, born in Georgia and moved from Oklahoma to California 12 years before the photo was taken. This site has the background info. newtimes-slo...

I think Robert Hughes called it the “fraying of America.” Can’t believe how many of the comments reflect an ignorance of The Great Depression in this country. And, by the way, the word immigrant does not carry the same meaning as migrant.

And to the comment about the laughing children:
yes, everybody thought it was absolutely lovely to be homeless, hungry and poor in the 1930s. Banks closed, there were bread lines, and huge numbers of people were unemployed.

Laughing children, my foot. Anyone who has children can read the look on her face - how am I going to get enough food to feed my children past today. My own mother has told me that Life magazine searched for her years later and found her as she was dying. Keep in mind that the woman in the photo above was 32. Try and guess her age.

SayBlade, is there a single puerile trope that you HAVEN’T adopted?

Your comments mar far too many important photos in the collection.

In this case, your ideas of community and interdependence (as pallatives for globalizaton and corporatism) revel a deep ignorance of history. Nobody cares about your insipid and pompous opinions.