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Florence Owens Thompson

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Florence Owens Thompson
Migrant Mother, taken by Dorothea Lange in 1936.
Born
Florence Leona Christie

(1903-09-01)September 1, 1903
Oklahoma
DiedSeptember 16, 1983(1983-09-16) (aged 80)
Scotts Valley, California
Resting placeLakewood Memorial Park
Known forDorothea Lange's photo
SpouseCleo Owens (c1905-c1938) m. 1921

Florence Owens Thompson (September 1, 1903 - September 16, 1983), born Florence Leona Christie, was the subject of Dorothea Lange's photo Migrant Mother (1936), an iconic image of the Great Depression. The Library of Congress entitles the Migrant Mother image, Destitute pea pickers in California. Mother of seven children. Age thirty-two. Nipomo, California.[1] CNN did a story on the her daughter on December 3, 2008 [2]

Biography

Florence, born in Oklahoma and of Cherokee descent, married farmer Cleo Owens on St. Valentine's Day in 1921.[3] In 1922, Florence and Cleo Owens moved to Shafter, California. In 1924, they moved to Porterville, some 50 miles (80 km) north of Shafter, where Cleo and his brothers had found work at a sawmill. But the mill burned down in 1927, so they moved 125 miles (200 km) further north to Merced Falls. There were no "Falls", but there was a sawmill, a strong river to carry logs down from the hills, and a small town. Merced Falls sat on the eastern side of the California Central Valley in the foothills and consisted of five or six streets, one store and one school. In September 1929, Florence gave birth to the fifth of her seven children, a girl named Sapphire. In the same year, the Wall Street stock market crashed.

Cleo lost his job at the sawmill in 1931, and the family moved to Oroville in northern California, where Cleo joined his brothers and sisters working in the fields picking peaches. Cleo died from a high fever at the age of 32 soon after moving, and was buried in Oroville. At the time of Cleo's death Florence was expecting a child. During the next two years, Florence stayed around Oroville while her husband's family followed the crops around the state, returning to winter at Oroville.

In 1933, Florence discovered that she was expecting another child. Afraid that the father's influential family would take the child if she returned to her mother's home, Florence bolted with her children back to the Akman farm in Oklahoma.

Florence moved back to Merced Falls in 1934, leaving the infant, Charlie, to be raised by his grandparents. As families started leaving the town, Florence moved with her children from one town to another, from one camp to the next. Florence remembered that "when Steinbeck wrote in The Grapes of Wrath about those people living under the bridge at Bakersfield—at one time we lived under that bridge. It was the same story. Didn't even have a tent then, just a ratty old quilt."[4]

Iconic photo

In 1936, while driving down US Highway 101 in California, Thompson's car timing chain snapped and they coasted to a stop just inside a pea-picker's camp on Nipomo Mesa.[3][5] Florence set up a camp there, and Jim Hill, a man who was living with Florence, went to get help for their car with two of her sons. As Florence waited for Hill and her boys to come back, Dorothea Lange drove up and started taking photos of Florence and her family. Over 10 minutes she took 6 images. Lange wrote of the meeting:

"I did not ask her name or her history. She told me her age, that she was 32. She said that they had been living on frozen vegetables from the surrounding fields and birds that the children killed. She had just sold the tires from her car to buy food."[4]

Her son Troy Owens recounts:

"There's no way we sold our tires, because we didn't have any to sell. The only ones we had were on the Hudson and we drove off in them. I don't believe Dorothea Lange was lying, I just think she had one story mixed up with another. Or she was borrowing to fill in what she didn't have."[3]

It was only in the late 1970s that Thompson's identity was made known. In 1978, acting on a tip, Modesto Bee reporter Emmett Corrigan located Thompson at her mobile home in Space 24 of the Modesto Mobile Village and visually recognized her from the photograph.[6] A letter Thompson wrote was published in The Modesto Bee and the Associated Press sent a story around entitled "Woman Fighting Mad Over Famous Depression Photo." Florence was quoted as saying "I wish she [Lange] hadn't taken my picture. I can't get a penny out of it. She didn't ask my name. She said she wouldn't sell the pictures. She said she'd send me a copy. She never did."[3]

Because Lange took the picture for the federal government she never directly received any royalties as the image was in the public domain, although the picture and the attention it received gave a big boost to Lange's career.[7]

Some of the 1936 photos ran almost immediately in the San Francisco News, with an assertion that 2,500 to 3,500 migrant workers were starving in Nipomo.[8] Within days, the pea-picker camp received 20,000 pounds of food from the federal government.[8] However, Thompson and her family had moved on by the time the food arrived.[8]

While preparing the image for exhibit in 1941,[9] the negative of the famous photo was retouched to remove Florence's thumb in the lower-right corner of the image.[10] In the late 1960s, Bill Hendrie found the original Migrant Mother photograph and 31 other vintage, untouched photos by Dorothea Lange in a dumpster at the San Jose Chamber of Commerce.[11] After the death of Hendrie and his wife, their daughter, Marian Tankersley, rediscovered the photos while emptying her parents' San Jose home.[11] In 1998, the retouched photo of Migrant Mother became a 32-cent U.S. Postal Service stamp in the 1930s Celebrate the Century series.[12] The stamp printing was unusual since Katherine McIntosh (on the left in the stamp) and Norma Rydlewski (in Thompson's arms in the stamp) were alive at the time of the printing and "It is very uncommon for the Postal Service to print stamps of individuals who have not been dead for at least 10 years."[13]

In the same month the U.S. stamp was issued, a print of the photograph with Lange's handwritten notes and signature sold in 1998 for $244,500 at Sotheby's New York.[14] In November 2002, Dorothea Lange's personal print of Migrant Mother sold at Christie's New York for $141,500.[8] In October 2005, an anonymous buyer paid $296,000 at Sotheby's New York for the rediscovered 32 vintage, untouched Lange photos -- nearly six times the pre-bid estimate.[11]

Death and aftermath

Thompson (seated) with her three daughters in 1979 - 43 years after Migrant Mother

Thompson was hospitalized and her family appealed for financial help in late August 1983.[15] By September, the family had collected $25,000 in donations to pay for her medical care. Florence died of "cancer and heart problems" at Scotts Valley, California on September 16, 1983.[16][17] She was buried in Lakewood Memorial Park in Hughson, California, and her gravestone reads: "Migrant Mother – A Legend of the Strength of American Motherhood."

The other 5 photos

Lange actually took six photos that day, the last being the famous Migrant Mother. This is a montage of the other five pictures.

The other 5 photos taken by Dorothea Lange.
  1. Persons in picture (left to right) are: Viola (Pete) in rocker, age 14, standing inside tent; Ruby, age 5; Katherine, age 4, seated on box; Florence, age 32, and infant Norma, age 1 year, being held by Florence.
  2. Ruby has moved inside the tent, and away from Lange, in hopes her photo can not be taken. Katherine stands next to her mother. Florence is talking to Ruby, who is hiding behind her mother, as Lange took the picture.
  3. Florence is nursing Norma. Katherine has moved back from her mother as Lange approached to take this shot. Ruby is still hiding behind her mother.
  4. Left to right are Florence, Ruby and baby Norma.
  5. Florence stopped nursing Norma and Ruby has come out from behind her. This photograph was the one used by the newspapers the following day to report the story of the starving migrants.

References

  1. ^ Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. fsa1998021539/PP Accessed July 14, 2008.
  2. ^ http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/12/02/dustbowl.photo/index.html
  3. ^ a b c d Dunne, Geoffrey (2002). "Photographic license". New Times.
  4. ^ a b Maksel, Rebecca. "Migrant Madonna". Smithsonian. Smithsonian Institution.
  5. ^ The Tribune (San Luis Obispo) (June 17, 2007) Dorothea Lange captured suffering of itinerant workers near Nipomo.
  6. ^ King, Peter H. (October 18, 1998) The Fresno Bee One defiant family escapes poignant portrait of poverty. Section: Vision; Page F1.
  7. ^ Lucas, Dean. "Famous Pictures Magazine - Depression Mother". Retrieved 2007-07-12.
  8. ^ a b c d Schoettler, Carl. (November 12, 2002) Daily Press (Virginia) A true picture of hard times. Photo of poverty sells for a stack of riches. Section: Life; Page D1.
  9. ^ James C. Curtis. Dorothea Lange, Migrant Mother, and the Culture of the Great Depression. Winterthur Portfolio, Vol. 21, No. 1. (Spring, 1986), pp. 1-20. (JSTOR). Accessed 2007-05-26.
  10. ^ "Photo Gallery - Faces of Feminism". Dorothea-Lange.org. September 18, 2003. Retrieved 2007-05-26.
  11. ^ a b c Neff, Cynthia. (October 20, 2005) The Tribune (San Luis Obispo) Face of hard times has a big payday. Dorothea Lange's famous 'Migrant Mother' Depression photograph, taken in Nipomo, and others collect almost $300,000 at auction.
  12. ^ Bennett, Lennie. (May 11, 2008) St. Petersburg Times A mother's strength knows no bounds. Section: Latitudes; Page 2L.
  13. ^ Garchik, Leah. (October 6, 1998) San Francisco Chronicle Stamp honors ERA, not the people. Section: Daily datebook; Page B10. (Note: Ruby Sprague (on the right in the stamp) had died of cancer prior to the stamp printing.)
  14. ^ Yi, Matthew. (November 22, 1998) Tulsa World Girl in famous Depression-era photo piqued. Section: News; page A11.
  15. ^ "An Appeal For A Face From The Depression". Associated Press in New York Times. August 24, 1983. Retrieved 2008-07-14. Decades after her careworn, resolute face became a symbol of the grinding poverty of the Depression, Florence Thompson's children are asking for help to save their mother's ebbing life. If I needed something for myself, I wouldn't make a public appeal, but this is for my mother, said one ... {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  16. ^ "Florence Thompson, Symbol of Era". United Press International. September 17, 1983. Florence Thompson, whose face was made famous in a 1936 photograph that became a haunting symbol of the suffering of millions during the Great Depression, died Friday. She was 80. Mrs. Thompson suffered from cancer and heart problems and recently suffered a stroke, said a nurse who helped care for her. Her family last month appealed for financial help to care for their mother, and drew hundreds of donations totalling $25,000. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  17. ^ "Florence Thompson, 'Migrant Mother,' Dies". Los Angeles Times. September 17, 1983. Florence Thompson, whose pensive, languid face became a symbol of the Great Depression, died Friday - only weeks after her family issued a national plea for money to help defray her mounting medical [costs]. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
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