Documenting the great depression

Why the project has significant impact on the society?

The great depression was one of the most memorable historical tragedies through out the 19^th century. During the period, US stock market prices were collapsed, causing money to depreciate. All the stocks became papers with no value, resulting many rich people lost all their assets. It was a world wide economic depression, happening in many countries, USA, Britain, France…etc. With the effects of the great depression, unemployment rate was relative high, industrial production was also decreased in those countries.

According to the website, the black-and white photographs of the Farm Security Administration- Office of War Information Collection are a landmark in the history of documentary photography. This project has a significant impact on the society since the images portray the hard life of the Americans who experienced the effects of the great depression. The project is also a historical prove, documenting the great depression visually. From the photographs, we can all see that people feel depressed from their face expression; worrying about the living, no hope in future. The photographs discipline us form the great depression so we won’t make this kind of mistakes again.

Migrant Mother. Photographer: Dorothea Lang

What was the role of Migrant Mother photograph in the period or the great depression and what is it nowadays?

Migrant Mother. Photographer: Dorothea Lange

“Migrant Mother” is one of the series of photographs and that created by Dorothea Lange. In this photograph, we can see that a depressed mother with her kids around her, sadness and worries are expressed all over her face. Helpless and hopeless are shown from the bottom of her soul, I believe that she sure was in a tough situation with no solutions. “Migrant Mother” demonstrates a historical indicator of the great depression because it shows this tragedy virtually. We can all feel their sadness and courage to overcome the hard time. Even in nowadays, we are still disciplined from the stories behind those photographs so we won’t make the same mistake and also treasure things and people that we have right now.

Migrant Mother. Photographer: Dorothea Lange

Reference:
The library of congress, American memory
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/fsahtml/fahome.html


Drothea Lange's "Migrant Mother" Photographs in the Farm Security Administration Collection: An Overview
http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/list/128_migm.html


Photographs:
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