that is who dorothea lang photographed. she saw this woman with several children and began working up to her. dorothea lang was good at engaging people in conversation and disappearing into the atmosphere. she has talked about herself as becoming invisible when she worked. she would slowly talk to the people about what was happening, what straits they found themselves in. they would sort of forget about her, and she would start making pictures. that is what she did with florence thompson. there is a series of pictures with the mother and young children behind her. gradually, she gets closer and makes the famous photograph. she said she knew when she made it that was what she needed to accomplish and went back home. this program that roy stryker headed began as part of the resettlement administration. those words, "resettlement administration," did not sit well with the american public. they have wanted to have their own houses, their own piece of ground, and they did not want to have to move and decide what they were going

that's who dorothea lange photographed. she saw this woman with several small children, teenage daughter and some younger children, and began working her way up to her. apparently, dorothea lange was very good at engaging people in conversation and then just sort of disappearing into the atmosphere. she talked about herself as becoming invisible as she worked. she would very slowly talk to people about what was happening, what straits they were in, how they fed themselves, that kind of thing, and then they would sort of forget about her, and she would begin making pictures. that is what she did with florence thompson. there is a series of pictures showing the teenage girl out in front of their tent sitting on a chair. the mother on the younger children behind her. then gradually, she gets closer and closer and makes the famous photograph. she knew the sooner she made it, that that is what she needed to accomplish and went back home. this program that roy striker headed began as part of the resettlement administration, but t

lived in california and the migrant mother picture is probably the most famous of the ones that dorothea langenting pea picking in march 1936. the weather was bad, the crops had frozen, people were not able to pick the damaged goods so they were living on what little money they

that's who dorothea lange photographed. she saw this woman with several small children, a teen-age daughter and some younger children and began work her way up to her. apparently dorothea lange was very good at engaging people in conversation and then just sort of disappearing into the atmosphere. she talked about herself as becoming invisible as she worked. she would very slowly talk to the people about what was happening, what straits they were in, how they fed themselves, that kind of thing and then they would sort of forget about her and she would begin making pictures and that's what she did with florence thompson. there's a series of pictures showing the teen-age girl out in front of their tent sitting on a chair, the mother and the young are children behind her and then gradually she gets closer and closer and makes the famous photograph. and she said she knew as soon as she had made it that that's what she needed to have found and went back home. >>> you're watching american history tv all weekend, everyone weekend