Migrant Mother, Florence Owens Thompson

Date

1936

Description

Creator of the image: Dorothea Lange
Date of the image creation: 1936
Medium of the image: Photograph
Person depicted: Florence Owens Thompson

This iconic image was taken in 1936 by influential American photojournalist Dorothea Lange (1895–1965). It depicts Florence Owens Thompson (1903–1983), a destitute agricultural labourer and the mother of seven children. In March 1936 Thompson and her family had finished picking beets and were travelling across California hoping to find work picking lettuces. Due to a problem with their car, the family was forced to stop at a large pea-pickers’ camp on Nipomo Mesa. Many people camped there, but alas there was not work as freezing rain had destroyed the crops, leaving the migrant workers without work or pay. While Thompson's husband and two sons went to fix the car, the mother was left to set up a temporary camp. At this point, Dorothea Lange, then working for the Resettlement Administration, appeared and began taking photographs. She took six photos over the course of ten minutes.

The image, now known as ‘Migrant Mother’, was to make Lange famous and become something of a symbol for the depression in the United States. Thompson sits in their camp, a child on either side and a baby on her lap. She raises her right hand to her face, thoughtfully touching her chin. Her face looks considerably older than her 32 years may suggest, with years of hard labour and uncertainty taking its toll. While her weathered features and concerned expression give an empathetic portrait of a life of hardship, there is also a wiry determination in her, the strength and dignity of a mother prepared to grind through harshness to provide for her family.

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