Dorothea Lange

Dorothea Lange, a documentary photographer, traveled the United States photographing the plight of Americans during the Great Depression. This photograph was taken in March 1936, and depicts a mother and two of her seven children. Florence Owens Thompson was 32 years old at the time the photo was captured and told Lange that they were “living on frozen vegetables from the surrounding fields and birds the children had killed. She had just sold the tires from her car to buy food.”

Later, as Americans entered World War II, Lange also photographed the internment of Japanese Americans.

Dorothy Lange Photograph