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Potato pickers, near Shafter, California, 1937. Creator: Dorothea Lange
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Potato pickers, near Shafter, California, 1937. Creator: Dorothea Lange
Near Shafter, California. Potatoes are dug by machines and strewn on the ground as the digger goes down the rows. The picker puts the potatoes into sacks suspended from their waist between their knees. The sacks are loaded onto the field trucks and taken to the sheds for sorting and grading. Potato pickers earned forty cents an hour in 1937
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Media ID 36205117
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This evocative photograph, captured by renowned American photographer Dorothea Lange in 1937 near Shafter, California, offers a poignant glimpse into the harsh realities of agricultural labor during the Great Depression. The image portrays a potato picker, dressed in simple work clothes, bent over in the fields with a sack suspended between his knees. The ground is littered with potatoes that have been recently dug up by machines, awaiting the laborer's deft touch to sort and grade them. The scene is a testament to the back-breaking work that defined the lives of countless farm laborers during this era. The potato pickers earned a meager forty cents an hour, a paltry sum that did little to ease the burdens of displacement and economic hardship that many faced. The photograph captures the essence of the era's forced migration, as people were displaced from their homes and livelihoods, and forced to seek work in unfamiliar places. Lange's masterful composition, with the man's hat casting a stark contrast against the barren earth and the sack slung low between his legs, underscores the physical and emotional toll of this labor. The image stands as a powerful reminder of the resilience and determination of the human spirit, even in the face of adversity.
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