America from the Great Depression to World War II: Black and White Photographs from the FSA and OWI, ca. 1935-1945

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Go directly to the collection, America from the Great Depression to World War II: Black and White Photographs from the FSA and OWI, ca. 1935-1945, in American Memory, or view a Summary of Resources related to the collection.

FSA/OWI Photographs, 1935-1945 contains over 71,000 photographs that comprise an extensive pictorial record of American social life during the turbulent decade between 1935 and 1945. The scope of this record ranges from the southern to the western United States to Puerto Rico and from rural to urban conditions.

The collection also demonstrates the rise of documentary photography as a medium for investigating and communicating about social issues. The Special Presentation, "Documenting America: Photographers on Assignment", can serve as a point of departure for investigation into the FSA/OWI specifically and into photography and the documentary form in general.

1) The Great Depression

Photographs in the collection bring home the reality of the hardships of the Great Depression, from the squalor of Hoovervilles and shantytowns to the barren wastes of the Dust Bowl. Search Hoovervilles, shantytown, camps, squatters, and dwellings for pictures that record the wide-spread poverty of the Depression. Search dust, sand, and erosion for evidence of the cataclysmic environmental changes that destroyed farms and contributed to many people's distress during the Depression.

Mrs. Charles Benning sweeping steps of shack in "Shantytown," Spencer, Iowa.

Soil blown by "dust bowl" winds piled up in large drifts near Liberal, Kansas.

Study of the Great Depression may be complemented by the use of materials from Voices from the Dust Bowl and American Life Histories, 1936-1940.

2) Migrant Mothers

Destitute pea pickers in California. Mother of seven children. Age thirty-two. Nipomo, California.

Dorothea Lange's photograph popularly called "Migrant Mother" (left) captures the worry and desperation as well as the strength of Depression women who migrated to California with their families. Many of the photographs in the collection tell stories of women trying to hold their families together. Have your students investigate the trials of migration by searching on refugee, family, and migrant.

Eighteen-year-old mother from Oklahoma, now a California migrant. . . .

Part of an impoverished family of nine on a New Mexico highway. . . .

Many of these photographs tell their stories of migration through lengthy captions as well as visual information. As an extended project, students can do research in Voices from the Dust Bowl and other outside sources to find out if a photographer's caption is a realistic or biased account of migration. They can also write a short story based on a photograph and on their research.

3) The Forgotten Man

Virtually the entire collection may be seen as a study of and tribute to people neglected by late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century historians who focused almost solely on political history. These photographs express a renewed interest in the "Forgotten Man" and provide a starting point for understanding the beliefs of the people who embraced and recreated that figure in the thirties and forties. Projects and discussion may be based on a comparison of how different people and organizations defined and used the "Forgotten Man" during this era. One example is found in the Special Presentation of a series by Gordon Parks documenting the life of a Washington D.C. charwoman.

Washington, D.C. Dinner time at the home of Mrs. Ella Watson, a government charwoman.

Washington, D.C. Mrs. Ella Watson, a government charwoman, reading the Bible to her household.

Looking at photographs from the collection or at the Parks series with your students, consider the following questions:

• What makes someone a "Forgotten Man"? Why is he/she celebrated?
• What do Parks's photographs tell us about Mrs. Watson? Why did Parks take so many photographs of Mrs. Watson?
• Why might the FSA/OWI photographers have been interested in the "Forgotten Man"?
• Who else was interested in the "Forgotten Man" during this decade? Beyond this decade?

4) Minorities

In addition to the trials of the Depression, minorities dealt with discrimination. Tenant farmers and sharecroppers like these were evicted when Southern farm owners used cutbacks in production as an opportunity to discriminate against African Americans. In 1932, unemployment among African Americans was about 50 percent, twice the national average.

Evicted sharecroppers along Highway 60, New Madrid County, Missouri.

Chinese laborer in potato field. Walla Walla, Washington.

In the West, minorities had a hard time getting what little work there was, when produce growers favored native-born workers. Members of minority groups such as this Chinese man were forced to migrate from one temporary, low-paying job to the next. Some workers had to support their families on as little as $1.50 a week. Search negro, Spanish-American, Mexican, Filipino, and Chinese for pictures depicting the minority experience of the Depression.

5) Labor

The decade between 1935 and 1945 saw much progress in organized labor, including the National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933 and the National Labor Relations Act of 1935. Together, these acts recognized the right of workers to join unions and the right to collective bargaining and required employers to deal fairly with majority-supported unions. The tremendous growth of organized labor was reflected in the tremendous tensions of 1937, when a wave of strikes, some resulting in violence, swept through the country.

Search union, CIO, strike, and picket for pictures illustrating labor organization and unrest. Ask students to look for newspaper articles on strikes and union meetings in Charles Todd's Scrapbook from Voices from the Dust Bowl. Then have them write their own article to go with a photograph from the collection.

Leif Dahl . . . speaking at union meeting in Bridgeton, New Jersey.

Detroit, Michigan. Police officers removing sit-down strikers from the Yale and Towne Manufacturing plant.

Some of the operators at the Jersey Homesteads garment factory. . . .

6) The New Deal

Students can observe the effects of New Deal relief work by comparing pictures of makeshift shelters and tent cities with resettlement camps and showcase housing. Search tent, migrant camp, FSA, and labor camp for examples such as these. Or search Hightstown and El Monte for pictures of those model New Deal communities.

Tent camp of migrants north of Harlingen, Texas.

Kern County migrant camp. California.

CCC boys at work, Prince Georges County, Maryland.

Search CCC for scenes such as this one depicting the work of the Civilian Conservation Corps, a program designed to preserve the country's natural resources while also creating new jobs. For a different perspective, search WPA or NRA to access pictures whose lengthy captions reveal the limitations of New Deal relief services.

7) World War II

The collection portrays the war from the perspective of the home-front, including the evacuation of 110,000 Japanese-Americans to internment camps. After Pearl Harbor, many Americans feared that Japan would attack the West Coast next, aided by Japanese American spies. Although there was no record of spying, political pressure, fueled by a long-standing prejudice against Japanese Americans on the West Coast, resulted in the internment of resident aliens and citizens of Japanese ancestry. Families like this one were sent from their homes on the West Coast to camps in inland California, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and even as far away as Arkansas. Search evacuation and Santa Anita (the name of a camp) for a fuller view of the hardships of this process.

. . . Japanese-American family waiting for train. . . .

. . . evacuation of the Japanese-Americans from West Coast areas under U.S. Army war emergency order. . . .

Workers working on installation of war bond mural. . . .

Search soldiers and war for other pictures of war-time activities on the home front. Or learn more about women in the war effort by searching employment, factory, and laborers for pictures from Color Photographs from the FSA/OWI 1939-1945 documenting the movement of women into the work force during the war.