In early 1935, [...] Lange began to work for the California State Emergency Relief Administration. That summer, the agency was transferred to the RA, which had recently begun a photodocumentary project to draw attention to the plight of the rural poor. (In 1937, the RA would become the Farm Security Administration, or FSA.) Lange worked for the FSA periodically between 1935 and 1939, primarily traveling around California, the Southwest, and the South to document the hardships of migrant farmers who had been driven west by the twin devastations of the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl.
She's the photographer who took the "Migrant Mother" series, some of the most iconic images of the Depression.
This is likely their one and only outfit but I can almost guarantee those are some durable fabrics, Dad’s clothes will still be in great condition for when their son fits them and thats one of the things people used to specifically look for when buying fabrics/clothes.
The modern world of fast fashion couldn’t be more off an opposite.
Holy cow, the wife looks hardly 25 years old. They really popped kids out back to back in them days. I guess it's true you just believed in the Lord, had a bunch of young'uns, and hoped and prayed to Jesus Christ at least one of them made it to adulthood. Contrast that to the middle class lifestyle of many Americans just a little more than a decade later and it becomes even more of a mind-blower.
Remember that back then, we had far fewer vaccines, people got sick with terrible illnesses all the time. The Spanish flu had killed millions just a little less than 15 years prior. People also starved and died too. We didn’t have the complex supply chains that could deliver fresh foods around the world, either. We are incredibly lucky these days. We really do take it for granted.
Smallpox, measles, polio, and other diseases were still in full swing.
This was before fast fashion. Clothes were more expensive, but better made. You had far fewer pieces of clothing, and you'd repair them if they got worn, torn, loose seams, etc. The fact that there are five people carrying a small suitcase and a rolled-up pack between them suggests that most - if not all - of their clothes are on their backs.
You are free to live you life. Are there armed guards preventing you entering the forest and living off birds you kill with your hands and sleeping on pine needles? Be my guest.
Or do you mean “we should be free to have farmers work for my food, and have 20 people come build me a house, all for free”?
The people in this picture worked too, then the system collapsed due to rampant financial speculation and they were made destitute. Along with hundreds and thousands of others. People literally starved to death during this time.
If your response to the idea that perhaps things could be better for the people who work and contribute labour for your stuff is “well if you don’t like it, go live in the wilderness”, you suck.
Sorry, just go farming and build your own house? Do you think those things don’t have significant upfront costs that would be a barrier to people in precarious conditions?
This is not a serious argument, it’s completely detached from the actual barriers people face in reality
Really, those things have cost? Seriously? No way!
Next thing you’re going to tell me is that the people who already incurred in those costs (farmers, construction workers) want to earn money to cover those costs and their labor!!
you seem to lack critical thinking. This type of anecdotal “wisdom” you’ve adopted merely allows you to dismiss the true nuances of undertaking anything you’ve commented. You know more often than not, things are more complicated than a casual glance would suggest.
Are there armed guards preventing you entering the forest and living off birds you kill with your hands and sleeping on pine needles?
Well, yes, actually. Not without reason, but literally, yes. Typically some combination of public property, private property, and wildlife/safety regulations stop that from being a long-term solution. Depending on how far away from society you go, you can escape scrutiny for a time, but you'll never be safe from the threat of the cops rolling in and destroying whatever you have and dragging you out for trespassing or violating public land ordinances.
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