Great Depression
Dorothea Lange's iconic picture of the Great Depression in America is titled simply, "Migrant Mother." The title depersonalizes the image of Florence Thompson, who Jennifer Keene claims is "angry and bitter" that the photographer never asked her name, nor used the photograph to help the poor. According to Keene, Thompson believes that Lange profited from the photo without fulfilling the original promise to inspire government aide for the poor. On the other hand, Thompson's two youngest children are also depicted in the photograph taken in 1936. One of those daughters claims that it is only via self-reliance that economic independence is possible, suggesting that government aide is not necessarily the best or only way to help the poor. Indeed, the best way to help the poor at any time is to provide a diverse range of programs and resources. The "poor" should never be lumped together as a homogenous group. There are many reasons why people are poor and many different means of helping individuals to achieve their personal goals.
It is insulting to suggest, as Keene does, that Thompson might not be viewed as "deserving" of aide because she had a teenage daughter. Likewise, Keene wrongly suggests that the photo showing a suitcase full of clothes would have also made Thompson seem less than deserving. There is no reason why either of these factors should matter, especially in the 1930s. In the 1930s, women did not have access...
His painting (social realism) called "Approaching Storm" is a remarkable portrayal of a man walking up a hill with a bucket of water and two donkeys waiting to be told what to do. In the distance is a menacing storm. The website (Twecht.tripod) says that this farm could possibly have been a beautiful place to live at one point in time…but now it is gray and windy…all life in
Dust Bowl Bibliography Annotated Bibliography Bonnifield, Matthew Paul. The Dust Bowl: Men Dirt and Depression. University of New Mexico Press, 1979. A journalist named Robert Geiger first coined the term Dust Bowl in the 1930s, which was a decade of extreme droughts, blizzards, tornadoes, dust storms and other climatic changes. Oklahoma, Texas, Colorado, Kansas and other Plains states bore the brunt of this drought, and Dr. Bonnifield lived through it at the time.
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