Dorthea Lange, Motherless Children of a Migrant Mother

"Motherless Migrant Children" at "Arvin Migrant Camp, California" taken by Dorothea Lange in 1936.

This photograph shows three children, two girls and a boy, who are sitting in a makeshift shelter made of burlap sacks, as they work in the fields of California's San Joaquin Valley during the Great Depression. The children are identified as "Ruby", "Rosa", and "Juan". Their mother was a migrant farm worker who had recently died, leaving the children orphaned.

The photograph is part of Lange's larger body of work documenting the plight of migrant farm workers during the Great Depression. It captures the harsh realities of the migrant workers' lives, as well as the innocence and vulnerability of the children who were often forced to work in the fields alongside their parents.

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