Migrant Mother

How a Photograph Defined the Great Depression

In the 1930s, photographer Dorothea Lange traveled the American West documenting the experiences of those devastated by the Great Depression. She wanted to use the power of the image to effect political change, but even she could hardly have expected the effect that a simple portrait of a worn-looking woman and her children would have on history. This image, taken at a migrant workers' camp in Nipomo, California, would eventually come to be seen as the very symbol of the Depression. The photograph helped reveal the true cost of the disaster on human lives and shocked the US government into providing relief for the millions of other families devastated by the Depression.

©2011 Don Nardo, Alexa Sandmann, Kathleen Baxter (P)2017 Capstone Publishers, Inc.

Needs to be re-recorded

The recording is choppy and frequently skips portions then will go back a few minutes later to finish the sentence. The story was very interesting but very annoying to listen to!