Documenting Hardship
Lange Riis Gallery Other Artists Sitemap
Documenting Hardship > Dorothea Lange > The Great Depression > Deserted Farm

Deserted Farm


The above image represents so many feelings and truths about the life of the farmer during the depression. The house in the middle of the farm is deserted, abondoned by the family that so meticulously tended to the fields. It shows how hard you must work in order to keep up a farm, yet also shows that you also have to be lucky, or else all that hard work can go to waste. Also, the complete solitude of the area shows that you must be self sufficient, because there is no one close by who can help you. You were on your own, and no matter how hard you worked, you could end up seeing no return for your effort.

On April 30, 1935, FDR's Executive Order created the Resettlement Administration. Dorothea Lange's division of FERA was moved into this new organization, whose job was to provide for the refugees of the displaced farms. Dorothea had been working in California, exclusively, but this new division would have her work in Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, and Arizona. The new organization was sorely needed, as the conditions in California alone were enough to warrant incredible attention.

The labor situation in California was unfair and was in need of a major change. In the nineteen thirties, a tenth of California's farms produced over half of the state's crops. Small farms produced six percent of the state's total agricultural output. The amount of labor required on the big farms couldn't be met by the local residents; migrant labor was incredibly important in the local economies. Often times, there were three people working one job. The average migrant family earned between 350 and 450 dollars a year, when officials estimated the sustenance level at more than twice those amounts.

Dorothea described her feelings upon seeing a migrant family getting gas for their car: They looked very woebegone to me. They were American whites. I looked at the license plate on the car and it was Oklahoma. I got out and asked which way were they going, were they looking for work? And they said, "We've been blown out." I questioned what they meant, and then they told me about the dust storm. They were the first arrivals that I saw. These were the people who got up that day quick and left. They saw they had no crop back there. They had to get out. All of that day, driving the next miles, I saw these people; and I couldn't wait - I photographed them.


Home | Lange | Riis | Gallery | Other Artists | Sitemap
Copyright © 2003 Dan Wolchonok