Lange, Dorothea, photographer. Destitute pea pickers in California. Mother of seven children. Age thirty-two. Nipomo, California. California Nipomo San Luis Obispo County, United States, 1936. March. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2017762891
- The photograph is an iconic symbol of the Great Depression’s devastating effect on the lives of ordinary people, particularly women. Having students study this photograph allows them to interpret it on multiple levels; this, in turn, offers an opportunity to delve into the literary complexity that the Common Core promotes to provide academic rigor and encourage inferential thinking.
- This photo is one of seven that can be viewed alone or as a group, at the teacher’s discretion. It serves as an artistic protest for social justice, reform, and change for marginalized people. It can serve as an analytical tool in any social studies or history class at the middle or high school levels to teach what marginalization looks like.
- This photo also speaks of the unique position that many women occupied during the Great Depression, when they had to deal with a lack of childcare, limited educational opportunities, and few employment opportunities other than working agricultural fields harvesting produce. This Migrant Mother, as she is often called, represents a lack of education, housing, employment, and food for her children and herself. The photo speaks eloquently about how our federal government, as a result of the devastation of the Dust Bowl, instituted measures to address the above problems, thus creating more support for women with dependent children.
This is a picture of a mother in a shanty shed/tent with two children with backs turned toward the camera. All are wearing threadbare clothing and look tired.
- This is an iconic representation of human displacement as a result of environmental factors. The Dust Bowl of the Great Depression, ca. 1930–1936, mirrors our global environmental issues related to climate change, poor agricultural practices, and industrial razing of natural resources that deprive indigenous plants, animals, and people of the ability to sustain themselves. These are all leading to mass human displacement, as happened during the Great Depression in the Midwest.
- The photographer Dorothea Lange worked for the federal Resettlement Administration as a chronicler of people, places, and the environment of the American West, notably the California coastline, from 1935 to 1940.
- This photo speaks of governmental agencies and their policies surrounding human movement for sanctuary and survival.
- This photo also relates to the issue of lack of resources for women with children, namely education, childcare, and job opportunities. A fundamental lack of agency and advocacy impacted this mother and many women similarly situated during this time.
- In viewing this photograph, what strikes you as the observer?
- What emotions do you perceive when you view this photograph, and why do you think this woman feels this way?
- What time period do you think this photograph represents? What is its significance/importance?
- Can you draw contemporary parallels between this woman and photos of today?
Common Core State Standards
RI.11-12.1: Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.
- The photograph provides evidence of the impact of the Great Migration west for survival after the Dust Bowl of the 1930s.
- It also speaks of the need for social reform to assist mothers with dependent children.
RI.11-12.2: Determine two or more central ideas of a text and analyze their development over the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to provide a complex analysis; provide an objective summary of the text
- The literary concepts of documentary and social commentary are present in Lange’s photography. Her work can be seen as part of a protest movement that uses photography for positive social change.
RI.11-12.3: Analyze a complex set of ideas or sequence of events and explain how specific individuals, ideas, or events interact and develop over the course of the text.
- Social issues: Lange's work often focused on social issues such as poverty, migration, economic disparity, and racism. Her photographs helped to shape contemporary documentary practice and illuminate aspects of American history.
RI.11-12.7: Integrate and evaluate multiple sources of information presented in different media or formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively) as well as in words in order to address a question or solve a problem.
- The photograph provides evidence of the impact of the Great Migration west for survival after the Dust Bowl of the 1930s.
- It also speaks of the need for social reform to assist mothers with dependent children.
- John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath and his nonfiction writings about the Great Depression parallel Lange’s work. Examine a letter from Steinbeck to Lange:
- We can align Lange’s work with work today by various global constituencies who use resources, including photography, video, and field agents, to report on similar issues: climate change and its impact; improper farming and industrial practices that have destroyed/are destroying ecosystems; habitat threats that require people to move for sanctuary and survival.
- Lange’s work relates to similar current-day issues regarding scarcity of resources.
The topics below may or may not present a challenge to any community where topics of social justice are discussed in a classroom. Lange’s work centers on art for positive social change. They enable a discussion of the artist’s role in society: art for art's sake or art as a platform used to share information to effect positive social change. These topics connect to the photo and to Lange’s work as a whole.
Links to resources for approaching these topics:
- Parks, Gordon. “The Great Depression Photos,” Resettlement and Farm Security Administrations, WordPress. https://thegreatdepressionphotos.wordpress.com/photographers-2/gordon-parks/
- The Farm Security Administration Photo Project”https://www.archives.gov/files/atlanta/education/depression-curriculum/section-2.pdf.
- The photographers of the works cited were contemporaries of Dorothea Lange and worked in various regions of the country photographing citizens during the the Great Depression. Their works can be compared and contrasted to Lange’s works.
- Each photographer presents a different lens for students to view and discuss.
- Compelling Climate Fiction to Read before It Becomes Nonfiction. https://www.nypl.org/blog/2023/09/08/compelling-climate-fiction-read-it-becomes-nonfictio
- Environmental Justice Resources for Educators and Students. https://www.coastal.ca.gov/publiced/directory/ejed.html