Lange and Guthrie

These are the photographs of Dorothea Lange. Throughout her life as a photographer, she captured the images of the downtrodden and the disenfranchised. Her photographs of the victims of the Great Depression helped move the country towards programs to help the poor and regenerate the spirit of a nation.
Following the Depression she moved her camera to document the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, the discrimination against African Americans in the 1950's and the fight for justice anywhere she saw people struggling. She was one of America's most accomplished photographers- she was a warrior who used her art to move the conscience of a nation. I often wonder what images Dorothea Lange would make to depict today's injustices.
I have selected only a small sample of her work. I hope you will investigate further on your own.

The photograph below was taken of this 32 year old mother and her three children at a farm labor camp in  California during the Depression. It is Lange's most iconic photograph and it depicts the desperation of the times. Florence Owens Thompson had just sold the tires from her truck to buy food for her children. It is said that this photograph had such an impact on President Roosevelt that he immediately added more federal resources  to the Farm Security Administration.

In the squares of the city-in the shadow of the steeple
Near the relief office-I see my people
And some are grumblin' and some are wonderin'
Is this land still for you and me?
(final verse)
Woody Guthrie- "This Land is Your Land"