Phyllis Brown
A picture is worth a thousand words, and many historical events are immortalized through invaluable images.
An American photographer and photojournalist vividly captured the severe impact of the Dust Bowl during the 1930s.
Among his compelling photos are one portraying a man and his young daughter sitting on a bed in their makeshift home.
What portrayed in the photo
The photo depicts a man and his daughter sitting on a bed outdoors, under a bridge in the Mays Avenue camp in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The man appears to be reading or examining a document while his daughter sits beside him.
The setting is starkly impoverished, with old bed frames, mattresses, and various belongings scattered around them. In the background, a goat and other livestock roam freely, adding to the makeshift and rural atmosphere.
This powerful image captures a poignant moment of resilience and struggle during a difficult period, highlighting the harsh realities faced by this family.
The making of the photo
The photo titled “Man with his daughter sitting on a bed which is outdoors under a bridge in Mays Avenue camp, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma” was taken in July 1939 by photographer Russell Lee for the Farm Security Administration.
He is famous for photographing Americans’ struggles during the Great Depression for the FSA. His work captured the lives and cultures of different social classes across the country, creating a powerful visual record of that era.
This poignant image is part of the collection documenting the Dust Bowl and homelessness in Oklahoma.
The father and his young daughter lived in a makeshift outdoor living space, illustrating the severe hardships and resilience of families during this challenging period in American history.
The historical context behind
The Dust Bowl, also known as the Dirty Thirties, was a time of severe dust storms in the 1930s that heavily damaged the land and farming in the US and Canadian prairies. Severe drought and poor farming methods caused the wind to blow away unprotected soil.
More than 500,000 Americans lost their homes, and over 350 houses were destroyed in a single storm. The father and daughter in the photo were among these victims.
The drought and dust storms left many homeless, forced others to lose their homes to bank foreclosures, and made many abandon their farms to seek work elsewhere.
During the 1930s drought, loose soil turned to dust, creating massive clouds that sometimes blackened the sky.
These “black blizzards” or “black rollers” traveled across the country, even reaching cities like New York City and Washington, D.C. On the Plains, visibility often dropped to just three feet or less.
Reporter Robert E. Geiger witnessed the “Black Sunday” black blizzards on April 14, 1935, in Boise City, Oklahoma. The term “Dust Bowl” was coined by Edward Stanley, a Kansas City news editor, while editing Geiger’s story.
The drought hit in three waves: 1934, 1936, and 1939–40, with some areas suffering for up to eight years.
Many people lost their homes or had to leave their farms to find work. Some only moved to nearby towns or counties, but so many left that migrants and residents were nearly equal in number in the Great Plains states.
Despite their hardships, many families managed to smile and took pride in their children.
