We have all seen the iconic pictures of history. The burning of the Airship Hindenburg, the South Vietnamese mayor shooting a Viet Cong, Robert Kennedy on the floor of the Ambassador Hotel where he would soon die, the boy playing with a top on the deck of the doomed Titanic. All famous images that reflect the past to those still living.
There are of course smaller images that have just as much power, just as meaningful and ever bit as reflective as those in all the history books, or digital websites.
In a recent daily offering from Shorpy i came across this one, that, frankly, shook me tot he the core. I have mentioned Shorpy several times on this blog as an awsome site for historical photos, all usually 100 years old, but many from the 20's, 30's and 40'd.
Having survived the Depression the Drought of 1936 was its own kind of HEll.
"Record heat scorched crops. Damaging hail fell, but rain did not. Great clouds of dust billowed across the Plains from the southwest, blacking out the sky. Plants and people withered, but bugs thrived. Like great Biblical plagues, grasshoppers and chinch bugs devoured what remained in fields."
There are of course smaller images that have just as much power, just as meaningful and ever bit as reflective as those in all the history books, or digital websites.
In a recent daily offering from Shorpy i came across this one, that, frankly, shook me tot he the core. I have mentioned Shorpy several times on this blog as an awsome site for historical photos, all usually 100 years old, but many from the 20's, 30's and 40'd.
Having survived the Depression the Drought of 1936 was its own kind of HEll.
"Record heat scorched crops. Damaging hail fell, but rain did not. Great clouds of dust billowed across the Plains from the southwest, blacking out the sky. Plants and people withered, but bugs thrived. Like great Biblical plagues, grasshoppers and chinch bugs devoured what remained in fields."
"Example of self-resettlement in California. Oklahoma farm family on highway between Blythe and Indio. Forced by the drought of 1936 to abandon their farm, they set out with their children to drive to California. Picking cotton in Arizona for a day or two at a time gave them enough for food and gas to continue. On this day they were within a day's travel of their destination, Bakersfield. Their car had broken down en route and was abandoned."
Over 5,000 people died that summer from the heat. Not only was it the hottest on record at that time, it was the second driest after 1901. Dust storms and bug plagued the Midwest.
Now let's look at the picture above. besides the information regarding their destination and how their car had died and was abandoned, this picture of a young family is so rich in detail.
- Notice the kid standing next to mom, he is barefoot.
- The shadows mean it was morning before the devastation of the heat.
- The entire belongings are packed in one suitcase and a box.
- What must be going through the husband/dad's mind. His need to provide for his family and the embarrassment and futility of his future?
- DId someone give them breakfast before their trip?
- Will someone come and give them a lift?
- Will they make their destination and find happiness in California?
- Will husband/dad enlist in the war that will come in 5 years?
- Standing ramrod straight and with clean clothes, this man looks like he has the stuff of the Greatest Generation.
Great photo, Mike. For more of the same, some better all good, check out Walker Evans work in Let Us Now Praise Famous Men from the 1930's in Alabama (I think.) James Agee's writing in the same book is pretty amazing also, but rather...much, in many ways. I did not finish it. The follow up book, And Their Children After Them, By Dale Maharidge And Michael Williamson was very powerful. (I did finish that one! Well done, me!) Thanks for the great posts.
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