"Migrant Mother," by Dorothea Lange

Object Details

date made
1936
maker
Lange, Dorothea
Description
During the Great Depression, government photographer Dorothea Lange took this picture at a migrant farmworkers' camp near Nipomo, California. Lange's brief caption recorded her impressions of the family's plight: "Destitute pea pickers ... a 32-year-old mother of seven children."
First published in a San Francisco newspaper, this poignant image became one of the most famous photographs of the Depression era, emblematic of the hardships suffered by poor migrant families. The "migrant mother," anonymous for many years, was later identified as Oklahoma native Florence Thompson.
Location
Currently not on view
Place Made
United States: California
related event
Great Depression
See more items in
Work and Industry: Photographic History
Government, Politics, and Reform
National Treasures exhibit
Photography
Related Publication
Sewer, Andy; Allison, David; Liebhold, Peter; Davis, Nancy; Franz, Kathleen G.. American Enterprise: A History of Business in America
National Museum of American History. Treasures of American History online exhibition
Related Web Publication
http://americanhistory.si.edu/treasures
Data Source
National Museum of American History
ID Number
1983.0069.07
accession number
1983.0069
catalog number
83.69.7
Object Name
photograph
Physical Description
paper (overall material)
GUID
http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746ab-f81e-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa
Record ID
nmah_1313354
Migrant Mother, Nipomo, California, by Dorothea Lange for FSA, 1936