The Depression – Russell Lee Road

From Texas tenant farmer to California fruit tramp. Marysville, Calif. His story: 1927 made 7,000 dollars in cotton. 1928 broke even. 1929 went in the hole. 1930 went in still deeper. 1931 lost everything. 1932 hit the road. by Dorothea Lange, 1936. Another photo of this family is below — From Texas tenant farmer to California fruit tramp. Marysville, Calif. His story: 1927 made 7,000 dollars in cotton. 1928 broke even. 1929 went in the hole. 1930 went in still deeper. 1931 lost everything. 1932 hit the road. Photograph by Dorothea Lange. 1936

Text by Bruce Berman

Dorothea Lange not only photographed the people who were suffering the disaster of the Depression, she got to know them.

Her captions, written and sent to Roy Stryker at the FSA (either with her undeveloped film -which was rare- or with her developed film (she was the only FSA shooter allowed to do so) often were mini Short Stories.

LANGE’S SHORT STORY CAPTIONS