Migrant Mother

Dorothea Lange, Nipomo, California, March 1936 The pickers in this camp had come for the pea harvest, only to find the crop ruined by freezing rain, and they were living on frozen vegetables from the fields. Lange made five exposures of Florence Owens Thompson and her children, and the San Francisco News ran the pictures straight away. The federal government then sent 20,000 pounds of food to the camp. It is the clearest case on this list of a photograph prompting direct relief, and it went on to help build support for New Deal programs. Thompson's son later disputed parts of Lange's account and said the family had already left Nipomo when the food arrived, a reminder that the people in famous pictures rarely get to tell their side.