Cotton farming was a major product at the Lake Dick Project in Arkansas but it was hard, grueling and back breaking work as can be seen in these photographs taken by Russell Lee in 1938. Young children often went to the cotton fields with their parents Overseer of Cotton pickers Day Laborers were hired as […]
These remarkable photographs taken by Russell Lee show farming equipment, techniques of haying and sorghum making in October 1938. How times have changed! Member of Lake Dick Cooperative Association, Lake Dick Project, Arkansas Cleaning vats used in production of syrup from sorghum, Lake Dick Project, Arkansas Stripping sorghum prior to crushing. Sorghum mill at […]
Ropesville is a city in Hockley County, Texas, United States. Ropesville, The Ropesville Resettlement Project began in 1934 in conjunction with Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Federal Emergency Relief Administration and the community exists to this day. Resettled family, formerly renters. Ropesville rural community, Texas by photographer Arthur Rothstein in April 1936 Resettled farmer terracing part of […]
Rare! 1938 film of Lake Dick, Arkansas with photographs As a result of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s interest in assisting the rural poor during the 1930’s Depression, the Resettlement Administration was established. Lake Dick was one of these Resettlement projects near Althimer, Arkansas. It was part of the governments efforts to help sharecroppers establish their […]
Homelessness in America has always been a problem, but in the 1930s after the Great Depression and the during the drought years of the Dust Bowl, people suffered severely. Family living in a community camp, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Father was in the hospital with broken back received when he fell from roof on which he was applying […]
After the Great Depression in America, many farm families were destitute. In April 1934, a special Rural Rehabilitation Division was established within the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, for the purpose of assisting these farm families throughout the country “to become self-supporting and independent of emergency relief aid. Loans were granted and by 1935, there were […]
Life was slow for these men during the Great Depression The Great Depression began in August of 1929, when the United States economy first went into an economic recession. Although the country spent two months with declining GDP, it was not until the Wall Street Crash of October, 1929 that the effects of a declining […]
The Schoenfeldt, a Russian-German family, raised turkeys on their farm in Sheridan County, Kansas in August 1939. Photojournalist Russell Lee took many photographs of the family as they went about their daily chores. Family of Mr. Schoenfeldt, FSA (Farm Security Administration) client. Sheridan County, Kansas Sod house of the Schoenfeldts, FSA (Farm Security Administration) clients. […]
Improving the lives of children – a priority The most important aspect in this town was to provide low income families with affordable housing to raise their children in and a safe environment with access to large open “green” spaces. Pathways created between homes Pathways were created in each section of homes to connect the sections […]
