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Great Depression: Migrant Workers

'Migrant Mother': Dorothea Lange's Famous Photo

Migrant mother Florence Thompson in California, 1936.  Dorothea Lange's famous photograph that captured the anguish and hardship of the migrant worker during the Great Depression Dust Bowl.
Migrant Mother, California, February 1936.. Photograph. Encyclopædia Britannica Image Quest. Web. 10 Jan 2012.

Did You Know . . .

  • Florence Thompson, the "Migrant Mother,"  got paid 50 cents for every 100 pounds of cotton that she picked.

  • She picked up to 500 pounds a day.

  • She lived in a Hoover campground with her five children. Her husband had died.

  • She was just 28 years old when Dorothea Lange took the "Migrant Mother" photograph.
  • "We just existed," she said.

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Migrant Workers Web Resources