Dorothea Lange, Homeless Family, Oklahoma, 1938, 1938, 8 in. x 9 15/16 in., silver print on paper, Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Brunswick.
Dorothea Lange, Homeless Family, Oklahoma
Mother as Protector, Mother as Sacrifice, Mother as Role Model
In Dorothea Lange’s efforts to capture the impacts of the Great Depression, she familiarized herself with Western farming culture in America and its response to the Dust Bowl. Lange advocated for social advancement and change to aid the suffering Americans during the 1920s and 30s. She also worked to publicize the success or failure of government agencies to uplift these rural families. In this image, Lange captures the difficulties of motherhood and nurturing children amidst economic and social disaster.
A man leads his family of six through this barren, unforgiving landscape, and a few yards behind, a woman, seemingly the mother, wearily pulls her two children forward, suggesting the pressure and responsibility placed on mothers during these extraordinarily difficult circumstances. Given how far ahead the father is, it is clear that it is because of the mother that the children are keeping pace, not left behind. With scarce resources, the Depression-era mother is meant to protect and nourish children, the hope of a better future. Lange also suggests the mother is a role model, leading by example through difficult times. The two daughters mirror the mother in dress and stance, revealing how the mother is supposed to model femininity for her daughters.
The art historical canon is flush with images of mothers holding or carrying their children, but here all she can manage to do is pull them along, ushering in a new understanding of motherhood for common, working people that is characterized not by idealization but hard work, pain, and sacrifice.