18 August 2009

The way things were - 1936

August 1936. "Part of an impoverished family of nine on a New Mexico highway. Depression refugees from Iowa. Left Iowa in 1932 because of father's ill health. Father an auto mechanic laborer, painter by trade, tubercular. Family has been on relief in Arizona but refused entry on relief rolls in Iowa to which state they wish to return. Nine children including a sick four-month-old baby. No money at all. About to sell their belongings and trailer for money to buy food. 'We don't want to go where we'll be a nuisance to anybody.'"

Medium-format nitrate negative by Dorothea Lange for the Resettlement Administration.
Credit to the incomparable Shorpy site, where you can view the photo in large format.

1 comment:

  1. If helping people like that would have been "socialism," let's have more of it.

    ReplyDelete

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