Dorothea Lange Photographer of the Great Depression

Dorothea Lange (1895-1965) has been called the

greatest American documentary photographer.

She is best known for her chronicles of the Great

Depression and for her photographs of migratory

farm workers. Below are 24 pre-World War II

photographs, taken for the U.S. Farm Security

Administration (FSA), investigating living

conditions of families hired to work in cotton

fields and farms in Arizona and California. Many

of the families had fled the Dust Bowl, the lengthy

drought which devastated millions of acres of

farmland in Midwestern states such as Oklahoma.

Oklahoma Dustbowl

about 1936

As you watch this powerpoint, jot down 4-5

observations about what you see.

Family living in

poverty in Oklahoma

Oklahomans or “Okies” reaching California in

their loaded down jalopy. Young boy helping fix

the tire of a jalopy.

Above- Destitute pea pickers in California.

Mother of seven children. Right - On Arizona

Highway 87, south of Chandler, Arizona.

Grandmother and sick baby of migratory family

camped in a trailer in an open field. They came

from Amarillo, Texas, to pick cotton in Arizona.

Migrant Mother

No school. Starving. Forced to work the fields in

order to help feed the family. Government run

camps tried to establish schools.

The “Promised Land”

Workers waiting to see if they will be able pick

crops and feed their families.

A typical migrant camp in California.

Charged about 2.75 a day to stay.

Oklahoma

farmers

working at a

potato patch

in California

The Migrant Mother: Florence Owens Thompson

Most famous face of the Depression/Dust Bowl

Migrants

Pea Pickers in California

Typical Pea Picker’s Shanty Camp

Abandoned Freight Car Used for Okie Home

Dorothea Lange:

a book

chronicling her

photographic

career

Migrant workers

sought to form

unions to force

large landowners

and companies (like

Dole) to pay a fair

wage. Communism

became a popular

ideology.

You write in response ✦ Look at your 4-5 responses

✦ Now write three sentences that incorporate

those observations (avoiding any first person or

2nd person pronouns).

✦ Now rewrite them. Sentence 1 should use the

name, “Dorothea Lange” in it. Start with a

prepositional phrase. EX: In her book…

✦ Sentences 2 & 3 should develop sentence 1.

One of them must be a complex sentence.

Label it. One a simple sentence. Label.

Underline main verbs in all sentences.

An introductory prepositional phrase with 4

words or more must be separated from the rest of

the sentence by a comma.

Complex Sentence: Dependent Clause +

Independent Clause (in any order. An introductory

dependent clause must be followed by a comma.

EX: Since Oklahomans were uprooted and moved

off of their land, they were forced to depend on the

community of migrants for survival.

Simple Sentence: One main clause but can have

several phrases attached. EX: During the Dust

Bowl, Okies suffered from a variety of diseases.

Do’s and Don’ts of AP Writing

Avoid… •Passive voice

•Inconsistent verb tense

•“being” verbs

•Weak vocabulary

•Vague/boring word choice

(good, bad, society, people)

•Bare, naked quotes

•Plot summary

•Grammatical Errors

•Regurgitating prompt

•Spelling errors

•Clichés

•Rhetorical questions

•Straying off topic

•1st/2nd person pronouns

•Contractions

•No thesis

•Lack of conclusion

•Lack of hook or intro

DO…

•Organize: take a minute or two and pre-write and

organize thoughts

•Write a strong thesis with strong verb.

•Address prompt (include all parts)

•Don’t list devices or even state them

•Write a catchy/spicy intro

•Use an advanced vocabulary (but don’t sound like a

thesaurus! Have control of your words)

•Literary present tense

•3rd person

•Connect and infer

•Originality of thought