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Homeless family traveling in hopes of receiving unemployment relief, Great Depression, USA, 1939 (media.kbin.social)
submitted 10 months ago by PugJesus@kbin.social to c/historyporn@lemmy.world
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[-] athos77@kbin.social 27 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

The photographer was Dorothea Lange.

In early 1935, [...] Lange began to work for the California State Emergency Relief Administration. That summer, the agency was transferred to the RA, which had recently begun a photodocumentary project to draw attention to the plight of the rural poor. (In 1937, the RA would become the Farm Security Administration, or FSA.) Lange worked for the FSA periodically between 1935 and 1939, primarily traveling around California, the Southwest, and the South to document the hardships of migrant farmers who had been driven west by the twin devastations of the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl.

She's the photographer who took the "Migrant Mother" series, some of the most iconic images of the Depression.

[-] Fades@lemmy.world 24 points 10 months ago

Fucking pathetic then and it’s fucking pathetic now. Some of those shanty towns were real fuckin nice compared to our tent cities.

Fucking pathetic, we could do better but instead humanity would rather be a selfish cunt

[-] ElleChaise@kbin.social 17 points 10 months ago

Holy cow, the wife looks hardly 25 years old. They really popped kids out back to back in them days. I guess it's true you just believed in the Lord, had a bunch of young'uns, and hoped and prayed to Jesus Christ at least one of them made it to adulthood. Contrast that to the middle class lifestyle of many Americans just a little more than a decade later and it becomes even more of a mind-blower.

[-] LuckyBoy@lemmy.world 10 points 10 months ago

Thats not the wife, the wife probably is in the back of the older teenager girl that you think that is the wife. You can see a foot.

[-] neo@feddit.de 9 points 10 months ago

Two adults, four children, two dogs and they only carry a small suitcase and a bundle. Wild.

[-] Wahots@pawb.social 1 points 10 months ago

Remember that back then, we had far fewer vaccines, people got sick with terrible illnesses all the time. The Spanish flu had killed millions just a little less than 15 years prior. People also starved and died too. We didn't have the complex supply chains that could deliver fresh foods around the world, either. We are incredibly lucky these days. We really do take it for granted.

Smallpox, measles, polio, and other diseases were still in full swing.

[-] Tier1BuildABear@lemmy.world 15 points 10 months ago

These people are homeless and dress better than I do with a decent job. That's depressing.

[-] webghost0101@sopuli.xyz 17 points 10 months ago

This is likely their one and only outfit but I can almost guarantee those are some durable fabrics, Dad’s clothes will still be in great condition for when their son fits them and thats one of the things people used to specifically look for when buying fabrics/clothes.

The modern world of fast fashion couldn't be more off an opposite.

[-] robocall@lemmy.world 14 points 10 months ago

Is there more information available about this photo?

[-] PugJesus@kbin.social 16 points 10 months ago
[-] athos77@kbin.social 13 points 10 months ago

I really like how the dogs are counted as family members :)

[-] Rocketpoweredgorilla@lemmy.ca 5 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

There's someone behind the mother, I assume possibly carrying a baby. (Look closely at mom's feet and you can see theirs.)

Edit: That's assuming that's the mother, and not whoever is behind her. She does look pretty young.

[-] athos77@kbin.social 4 points 10 months ago

You're right, I completely missed that person!

[-] snekerpimp@lemmy.world 11 points 10 months ago

Look, it’s an artist’s rendition of the near future.

[-] cosmicrookie@lemmy.world 1 points 10 months ago

AI artist

[-] x4740N@lemmy.world 10 points 10 months ago

And right wingers would call them freeloaders and tell them to get a job

They had nowhere to go, how are they going to get a job and there are many other factors why someone cannot work

Also fuck capitalism, we should be free to live our lives and not be slaves to the capitalist system

[-] ThrowawayPermanente@sh.itjust.works 1 points 10 months ago

I wonder how things were going in the USSR at this point in history. Surely everyone always had enough to eat and enjoyed freedom of movement.

[-] Wahots@pawb.social 1 points 10 months ago

Stalin was rubbing his hands together excitedly, about to send people into the meat grinder.

[-] beatle@aussie.zone 2 points 10 months ago

Better dressed than most modern people with a home and employment.

[-] Nougat@kbin.social 30 points 10 months ago

This was before fast fashion. Clothes were more expensive, but better made. You had far fewer pieces of clothing, and you'd repair them if they got worn, torn, loose seams, etc. The fact that there are five people carrying a small suitcase and a rolled-up pack between them suggests that most - if not all - of their clothes are on their backs.

[-] plofi@lemmy.world 6 points 10 months ago

Yup, I'd take a larger suitcase on a vacation. Moving nowadays wouldn't be possible without a vehicle.

[-] PeepinGoodArgs@reddthat.com 10 points 10 months ago

I worked out of my 3 day old pajamas today.

It's a great time to be alive and privileged!

[-] bluewing@lemm.ee 2 points 10 months ago

It's OK.

In another year Daddy gets drafted and starts making money.

A year after that he gets killed in WW2.

And at the end of the war, all the Boomer children in this photo get rich and have keep all the money for themselves.......

[-] Ostrichgrif@lemmy.world 5 points 10 months ago

Boomers were born after WWII, these kids would have been the silent generation.

this post was submitted on 19 Jan 2024
265 points (99.3% liked)

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