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Great Depression Photograph Analysis

Making Connections

All documents and text associated with this activity are printed below, followed by a worksheet for student responses.

Introduction

Quickly scan the following images. Choose four photos for deeper analysis to uncover the impact of the Great Depression on society.

For each photograph you choose, answer the following questions in the blank box that follows the image:
 
1. Quickly scan the photo. What do you notice first?
2. List the people, objects and activities you see.
3. Where is it from?
4. When is it from?
5. Write one sentence summarizing this photo.
6. What did you find out from this photo that you might not learn anywhere else?


Name:
Class:

Worksheet

Great Depression Photograph Analysis

Making Connections

Examine the documents and text included in this activity. Fill in any blanks in the sequence with your thoughts and write your conclusion response in the space provided.

Sacramento, California. Close-up view of squatter camp. This family lives in the car without a tent.


Enter your response

Breadlines. Long line of people waiting to be fed, New York City.


Enter your response

Photograph of a Soup Kitchen during the Depression


Enter your response

Depression: Breadlines: Long line of people waiting to be fed: New York City


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Aerial Photograph of Bonus Army, Camp Marks, Washington, DC


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Shacks, put up by the Bonus Army on the Anacostia flats, Washington, DC, burning after the battle with the military


Enter your response

Depression: "Runs on Banks": People Milling about Outside of Bank


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Unemployed, Destitute Man Leaning Against Vacant Store: Photo by Dorothea Lange


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Farm Security Administration: Destitute pea pickers in California. Mother of seven children


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Farm Security Administration: Migrant worker on California highway


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Social Security "Unemployed insured workers registering for jobs and filing benefit claims at a State employment office."


Enter your response

Jobless Men Lined up for the First Time in California to File Claims for Unemployment Compensation


Enter your response



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Activity Element

Sacramento, California. Close-up view of squatter camp. This family lives in the car without a tent.

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2

Activity Element

Breadlines. Long line of people waiting to be fed, New York City.

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3

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Photograph of a Soup Kitchen during the Depression

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4

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Depression: Breadlines: Long line of people waiting to be fed: New York City

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5

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Aerial Photograph of Bonus Army, Camp Marks, Washington, DC

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6

Activity Element

Shacks, put up by the Bonus Army on the Anacostia flats, Washington, DC, burning after the battle with the military

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7

Activity Element

Depression: "Runs on Banks": People Milling about Outside of Bank

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8

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Unemployed, Destitute Man Leaning Against Vacant Store: Photo by Dorothea Lange

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9

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Farm Security Administration: Destitute pea pickers in California. Mother of seven children

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10

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Farm Security Administration: Migrant worker on California highway

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11

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Social Security "Unemployed insured workers registering for jobs and filing benefit claims at a State employment office."

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12

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Jobless Men Lined up for the First Time in California to File Claims for Unemployment Compensation

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Conclusion

Great Depression Photograph Analysis

Making Connections

  1. Compile a list of adjectives that describe life during the Great Depression. Explain your word choices using specific evidence from the photographs.
  2. How does the impact of the Great Depression on individuals and society compare to a more recent major crisis (for example, the COVID-19 Pandemic)?


Your Response




Document

Sacramento, California. Close-up view of squatter camp. This family lives in the car without a tent.

3/15/1940

The original caption for this photograph reads: Sacramento, California. Close-up view of squatter camp. This family lives in the car without a tent.

The image was captured by photographer Dorothea Lange during the Great Depression. Throughout the 1920s, Lange worked as a studio portrait photographer in San Francisco. However, by the height of the Great Depression, she turned her focus towards documenting people and her surroundings. Between 1935 and 1945, Lange worked for several federal agencies, most notably the Farm Security Administration (FSA) and the War Relocation Authority (WRA).

This photograph comes from a series taken by Lange for the Bureau of Agricultural Economics (BAE) as part of a "Community Stability and Instability" study that sought to understand why some agricultural communities succeed and others fail. The photographs document pre-World War II rural life and social institutions in Alabama, Arizona, California, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, New Hampshire, New Mexico, South Carolina, and Pennsylvania.

After WWII, Lange pursued freelance photography and worked for Life as a staff photographer.
This primary source comes from the Records of the Bureau of Agricultural Economics.
National Archives Identifier: 521748
Full Citation: Photograph 83-G-41504; Sacramento, California. Close-up view of squatter camp. This family lives in the car without a tent.; 3/15/1940; Photographic Prints Documenting Programs and Activities of the Bureau of Agricultural Economics and Predecessor Agencies, ca. 1922 - ca. 1947; Records of the Bureau of Agricultural Economics, ; National Archives at College Park, College Park, MD. [Online Version, https://www.docsteach.org/documents/document/squatter-camp-sacramento, December 12, 2024]


Sacramento, California. Close-up view of squatter camp. This family lives in the car without a tent.

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Document

Breadlines. Long line of people waiting to be fed, New York City.

ca. 1932

Breadlines. Long line of people waiting to be fed: New York City. In the absence of substantial government relief programs during 1932, free food was distributed with private funds in some urban centers to large numbers of the unemployed
This primary source comes from the Collection FDR-PHOCO: Franklin D. Roosevelt Library Public Domain Photographs.
National Archives Identifier: 195524
Full Citation: NLR-PHOCO-A-7420(244); Breadlines. Long line of people waiting to be fed, New York City.; ca. 1932; Franklin D. Roosevelt Library Public Domain Photographs, 1882 - 1962; Collection FDR-PHOCO: Franklin D. Roosevelt Library Public Domain Photographs, ; Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, NY. [Online Version, https://www.docsteach.org/documents/document/depression-breadlines-long-line-of-people-nyc, December 12, 2024]


Breadlines. Long line of people waiting to be fed, New York City.

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Document

Soup Kitchen During the Depression

6/1936

This primary source comes from the Collection FDR-Photos: Franklin D. Roosevelt Library Photographs.
National Archives Identifier: 196174
Full Citation: Soup Kitchen During the Depression; 6/1936; Collection FDR-Photos: Franklin D. Roosevelt Library Photographs, . [Online Version, https://www.docsteach.org/documents/document/soup-kitchen-depression, December 12, 2024]


Soup Kitchen During the Depression

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Document

Depression: Breadlines: Long line of people waiting to be fed: New York City

ca. 2/1932

The original caption for this photograph reads: "Depression: Breadlines: Long line of people waiting to be fed: New York City: In the absence of substantial government relief programs during 1932, free food was distributed with private funds in some urban centers to large numbers of the unemployed."
This primary source comes from the Collection FDR-PHOCO: Franklin D. Roosevelt Library Public Domain Photographs.
National Archives Identifier: 196506
Full Citation: Photograph PHOCO-A-69146; Depression: Breadlines: Long line of people waiting to be fed: New York City; ca. 2/1932; Franklin D. Roosevelt Library Public Domain Photographs, 1882 - 1962; Collection FDR-PHOCO: Franklin D. Roosevelt Library Public Domain Photographs, ; Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, NY. [Online Version, https://www.docsteach.org/documents/document/breadline, December 12, 2024]


Depression: Breadlines: Long line of people waiting to be fed: New York City

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Document

Aerial Photograph of Bonus Army, Camp Marks, Washington, DC

6/27/1932

This photograph shows a "Bonus Army" encampment on the Anacostia flats in Washington, DC, in 1932. The group, made up of thousands of World War I veterans calling themselves the Bonus Expeditionary Force (BEF), came to Washington to demonstrate for immediate payment of a bonus promised to them by the Government eight years earlier. After Congress failed to pass legislation allowing the payout, the Government ordered protesters home. Police tried to clear the marchers but were unsuccessful. The military took over under the command of Douglas MacArthur. Violence ensued, with the military using gas grenades and burning down shanties lining the streets.
This primary source comes from the Records of the Army Air Forces.
National Archives Identifier: 68152729
Full Citation: Photograph 18-AA-146-36; Aerial Photograph of Bonus Army, Camp Marks, Washington, DC; 6/27/1932; Washington D.C.; "Airscapes" of American and Foreign Areas, 1917 - 1964; Records of the Army Air Forces, ; National Archives at College Park, College Park, MD. [Online Version, https://www.docsteach.org/documents/document/closer-aerial-photograph-of-bonus-army-camp-marks-washington-dc, December 12, 2024]


Aerial Photograph of Bonus Army, Camp Marks, Washington, DC

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Document

Shacks, put up by the Bonus Army on the Anacostia flats, Washington, DC, burning after the battle with the military

1932

This photograph shows dwellings built by the Bonus Army being burned down. The Capitol Building is in the background. The original caption reads: "Shacks, put up by the Bonus Army on the Anacostia flats, Washington, DC, burning after the battle with the military."

In 1932, during the Great Depression, tens of thousands of impoverished World War I veterans traveled to Washington, DC. They called themselves the Bonus Expeditionary Force (BEF). The public called them the Bonus Army. They came to the nation’s capital to demonstrate for immediate payment of their military bonus certificates that weren’t redeemable until 1945.

The payment of the bonus was not approved by Congress. With that, many believed the marchers should admit defeat and return home. But the marchers vowed to remain. Police tried to clear the marchers but were unsuccessful. The military took over under the command of Douglas MacArthur. They marched into occupied buildings and encampments, lobbing gas grenades and burning down shanties lining the streets.

President Hoover sent an envoy commanding MacArthur not to pursue the fleeing protesters over the bridge to their settlements in Anacostia, but MacArthur ignored the directive. Hoover, in the midst of a reelection campaign, tried to explain the use of military force against the veterans as necessary to prevent "further bloodshed among the bonus marchers and the police, and possibly innocent bystanders." But the government’s use of the military to attack its own veterans shook the nation.

In 1936, Congress finally passed a bill giving the veterans their bonus. The Bonus Army had achieved its objective. Unfortunately, the bill was designed with loopholes that allowed state administrators to deny many of its benefits to Black veterans. Though the Bonus Army had been integrated and represented Black veterans as well, most Black Americans were barred from the home loans and educational opportunities that helped build a thriving middle class for white America.
This primary source comes from the Records of the Office of the Chief Signal Officer.
National Archives Identifier: 531102
Full Citation: Photograph 111-SC-97532; Shacks, put up by the Bonus Army on the Anacostia flats, Washington, DC, burning after the battle with the military; 1932; Photographs of American Military Activities, ca. 1918 - ca. 1981; Records of the Office of the Chief Signal Officer, ; National Archives at College Park, College Park, MD. [Online Version, https://www.docsteach.org/documents/document/shacks-bonus-army, December 12, 2024]


Shacks, put up by the Bonus Army on the Anacostia flats, Washington, DC, burning after the battle with the military

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Document

Depression: 'Runs on Banks': People Milling about Outside of Bank

ca. 1933

The original caption for this photograph reads: "Depression: 'Runs on Banks.'"  People milling about outside of a bank.

Some of the most harrowing moments of the Great Depression came in the final weeks of President Herbert Hoover’s administration with the collapse of the nation’s banking system in February 1933. The imminent failure of two large banks in Michigan prompted that state’s governor to declare a "banking holiday" on February 14, setting off a panic that soon infected the entire nation.

During the last two weeks of Hoover’s Presidency (Franklin D. Roosevelt was sworn into office on March 4), more than $1.2 billion was taken out of the nation’s banks to be stored in mattresses, shoeboxes, and other hiding places believed to be more secure than the country’s financial institutions.
This primary source comes from the Collection FDR-PHOCO: Franklin D. Roosevelt Library Public Domain Photographs.
National Archives Identifier: 195559
Full Citation: Photograph PHOCO-A-7420(1007); Depression: 'Runs on Banks': People Milling about Outside of Bank; ca. 1933; Franklin D. Roosevelt Library Public Domain Photographs, 1882 - 1962; Collection FDR-PHOCO: Franklin D. Roosevelt Library Public Domain Photographs, ; Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, NY. [Online Version, https://www.docsteach.org/documents/document/runs-on-banks, December 12, 2024]


Depression: 'Runs on Banks': People Milling about Outside of Bank

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Document

Unemployed, Destitute Man Leaning Against Vacant Store: Photo by Dorothea Lange

ca. 1935

This primary source comes from the Collection FDR-PHOCO: Franklin D. Roosevelt Library Public Domain Photographs.
National Archives Identifier: 195825
Full Citation: Unemployed, Destitute Man Leaning Against Vacant Store: Photo by Dorothea Lange; ca. 1935; Collection FDR-PHOCO: Franklin D. Roosevelt Library Public Domain Photographs, . [Online Version, https://www.docsteach.org/documents/document/unemployed-destitute-man-leaning-against-vacant-store-photo-by-dorothea-lange, December 12, 2024]


Unemployed, Destitute Man Leaning Against Vacant Store: Photo by Dorothea Lange

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Document

Farm Security Administration: Destitute pea pickers in California. Mother of seven children

ca. 2/1936

The original caption for this iconic photograph reads: "Destitute pea pickers in California. Mother of seven children. Age thirty-two. Nipomo, California." It was taken by photographer Dorothea Lange during the Great Depression, and is also known as "Migrant Mother."

Throughout the 1920s, Lange worked as a studio portrait photographer in San Francisco. However, by the height of the Great Depression, she turned her focus towards documenting people and her surroundings. Between 1935 and 1945, Lange worked for several Federal agencies, most notably the Farm Security Administration (FSA) and the War Relocation Authority (WRA). She took this famous photograph while on assignment with the Farm Security Administration (previously known as the Resettlement Agency). After WWII, Lange pursued freelance photography and worked for Life as a staff photographer.
This primary source comes from the Collection FDR-PHOCO: Franklin D. Roosevelt Library Public Domain Photographs.
National Archives Identifier: 196261
Full Citation: Photograph PHOCO-A-65593(65); Farm Security Administration: Destitute pea pickers in California. Mother of seven children; ca. 2/1936; Franklin D. Roosevelt Library Public Domain Photographs, 1882 - 1962; Collection FDR-PHOCO: Franklin D. Roosevelt Library Public Domain Photographs, ; Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, NY. [Online Version, https://www.docsteach.org/documents/document/farm-security-administration-destitute-pea-pickers-in-california-mother-of-seven-children, December 12, 2024]


Farm Security Administration: Destitute pea pickers in California. Mother of seven children

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Document

Farm Security Administration: Migrant worker on California highway

ca. 1935

This primary source comes from the Collection FDR-PHOCO: Franklin D. Roosevelt Library Public Domain Photographs.
National Archives Identifier: 196260
Full Citation: Farm Security Administration: Migrant worker on California highway; ca. 1935; Collection FDR-PHOCO: Franklin D. Roosevelt Library Public Domain Photographs, . [Online Version, https://www.docsteach.org/documents/document/farm-security-administration-migrant-worker-on-california-highway, December 12, 2024]


Farm Security Administration: Migrant worker on California highway

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Document

Social Security 'Unemployed insured workers registering for jobs and filing benefit claims at a State employment office.'

8/1935

On August 14, 1935, the Social Security Act established a system of old-age benefits for workers, benefits for victims of industrial accidents, unemployment insurance, aid for dependent mothers and children, the blind, and the physically handicapped. This image shows unemployed insured workers registering for jobs and filing benefit claims at a State employment office.
This primary source comes from the Collection FDR-PHOCO: Franklin D. Roosevelt Library Public Domain Photographs.
National Archives Identifier: 195881
Full Citation: Social Security 'Unemployed insured workers registering for jobs and filing benefit claims at a State employment office.'; 8/1935; Franklin D. Roosevelt Library Public Domain Photographs, 1882 - 1962; Collection FDR-PHOCO: Franklin D. Roosevelt Library Public Domain Photographs, ; Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, NY. [Online Version, https://www.docsteach.org/documents/document/workers-registering-jobs-benefit-claims, December 12, 2024]


Social Security 'Unemployed insured workers registering for jobs and filing benefit claims at a State employment office.'

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Document

Jobless Men Lined Up for the First Time in California to File Claims for Unemployment Compensation

ca. 1938

This image was captured by photographer Dorothea Lange during the Great Depression. The original caption reads: Jobless Men Lined up for the First Time in California to File Claims for Unemployment Compensation.

Lange believed that her role as a photographer was to promote political and social change by documenting compelling scenes – like the one in this signed print of men without work lined up to claim unemployment benefits.

Throughout the 1920s, Lange worked as a studio portrait photographer in San Francisco. However, by the height of the Great Depression, she turned her focus towards documenting people and her surroundings. She worked as a photographer for several government agencies, including the Resettlement Administration (the predecessor to the Farm Security Administration) and the War Relocation Authority. Her photographs of the rural poor and migrant workers during the Great Depression, notably her “Migrant Mother,” are iconic.

After World War II, Lange pursued freelance photography and worked for Life as a staff photographer.
This primary source comes from the Records of the Social Security Administration.
National Archives Identifier: 7716670
Full Citation: Photograph 47-GA-90-1; Jobless Men Lined Up for the First Time in California to File Claims for Unemployment Compensation; ca. 1938; Photographs of the Social Security Board Activities, 1936 - 1948; Records of the Social Security Administration, ; National Archives at College Park, College Park, MD. [Online Version, https://www.docsteach.org/documents/document/jobless-men-lined-up, December 12, 2024]


Jobless Men Lined Up for the First Time in California to File Claims for Unemployment Compensation

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