Dorothea Lange

Migrant Mother, 1936 Dorothea Lange's portrait of a mother and her children at a pea pickers' camp in Nipomo, California, became the face of the Depression. Federal authorities sent food to the camp after the pictures ran, commonly reported at around 20,000 pounds. The family had already left by then; her son Troy Owens later said they were long gone from Nipomo by the time any food was sent. Lange never asked the woman's name, and she stayed anonymous for more than 40 years until she was identified in 1978 as Florence Owens Thompson, who resented the picture. It earns its place both for what it achieved and for the questions of consent it raises.