description Dorothea Lange - Migrant Mother Overview
Dorothea Lange’s “Migrant Mother” is a powerful black-and-white photograph taken in 1936. It depicts Florence Thompson, a destitute pea picker during the Great Depression, and her children. The image became an enduring symbol of poverty and hardship experienced by agricultural workers across America. Lange's work remains significant for its contribution to documentary photography and provides a poignant visual record of this era’s social conditions.
It is particularly relevant for historians, researchers studying the Depression, and anyone interested in American family life during that period.
help Dorothea Lange - Migrant Mother FAQ
Who is the woman in Dorothea Lange's Migrant Mother?
The woman is Florence Owens Thompson, photographed by Dorothea Lange in 1936 near Nipomo, California. Thompson was a mother of seven and was living in a pea pickers' camp during the Great Depression.
Why did Dorothea Lange take Migrant Mother?
Lange was working for the Farm Security Administration, a New Deal agency documenting poverty and displacement in the 1930s. Her photograph helped make the suffering of migrant farm families visible to the American public.
Was Migrant Mother staged?
Lange posed the family in a controlled way across several exposures, but the poverty and camp conditions were real. The best-known frame shows Thompson looking away while two children turn their faces from the camera.
Where is Migrant Mother kept now?
Prints and negatives of Migrant Mother are held by the Library of Congress. The image remains one of the most reproduced photographs from the Great Depression era.
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