February 20, 2021, 12:10 PM
TMats"Migrant Mother," the Ultimate Photograph of the Depression Era
I don't know what triggered my research into this photo; I saw or heard something. The woman's name is Florence Owens Thompson. At the time of this photo she was 32 years old and had 7 kids. She was widowed, and she and the kids were traveling with a man named Jim Hill. On March 6, 1936 after picking beets in the Imperial Valley, they were headed to Pajaro Valley to pick lettuce when the timing chain of the car broke. They coasted into a “pea-pickers camp” on Nipomo Mesa, and set up a temporary camp.
This is the photographer, Dorothea Lange, who worked for the Resettlement Administration. She began taking photos around the camp. Usually Lange spent more time with her subjects, but it was late in the day. Florence told her that she was 32, and little else. Thompson's identity was not known for over 40 years after the photos were taken, but the photos became famous, this one in particular. The image which later became known as Migrant Mother "achieved near mythical status, symbolizing, if not defining, an entire era in United States history". Migrant Mother is considered the "ultimate" photo of the Depression Era: ". Lange never surpassed it.
Here's a very short interview with Florence late in her life. Not sure what year the interview occurred, but she died in September of 1983 at 80 years of age.