Why the project has significant impact on the society?
The Farm Security Administration (FSA) developed a project to document the life of families and individuals who lived in the rural poverty in America, that were effected by the Great Depression and World War II between 1935 and 1944. The FSA collection was a historical benchmark for documentary photography it had and still has a major impact on society. When the photographs were published and publicized, people finally seen what went on during this time, they where completely shocked. These pictures say 1000 words without talking, you can see it in the subject’s faces. This project had and still has significant impact on society since it reminds us all of the struggles people had to face when the Great Depression hit, it also helps us remember to not take things for granted, for some people had nothing at all. Life was difficult; families could not afford the basic needs like food and shelter to support their families. People went to bed hungry hoping that tomorrow would be a better day, simply wishing that they would find employment and be able to provide for their family, many families were force to move from their home to search for work. There were certain areas that got hit harder from the Great Depression than others. This documentary provided us to see how people had to live; some couldn’t even imagine the extent of the Great Depression without these images.
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| Bud Fields and his family. Alabama. 1935 or 1936. Photographer: Walker Evans. |
What was the role of Migrant Mother photograph in the period or great depression and what is it nowadays?
Dorothea Lange took the Migrant Mother photograph in 1936. The subject’s name is Florence Owens Thompson. These pictures became one of the most well known photographs for Lange and the FSA collection. The role of the photographs portrayed the hardship of mothers that where faced during Depression. The photographs are heartfelt and alarming to realize that this could have been any women’s reality. The role of the photograph nowadays is to be the icon of the Great Depression. It represents the suffering people lived through; it is an icon of poverty. For me it is an awakening call for us to realize how lucky we are to have the kind of lives that we have right now and that we did not have to suffer like how they did.
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| Dorothea Lange's "Migrant Mother," destitute in a pea picker's camp, because of the failure of the early pea crop. These people had just sold their tent in order to buy food. Most of the 2,500 people in this camp were destitute. By the end of the decade there were still 4 million migrants on the road. |
