Dorothea Lange's Impact On Americans Attitudes Towards The Great Depression

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From the 1930s through the 1940s the United States was in the midst of the Great Depression. The Great Depression placed the US into severe economic instability just before World War II, leaving 3.2 million people unemployed. Soon after Franklin Roosevelt’s win against Herbert Hoover in the 1932 presidential election, his inauguration allowed for many changes to begin within the government. Roosevelt created something called the “New Deal,” which incorporated the Farm Security Administration (FSA). The FSA was a government run program which created many jobs for photographers to document American rural poverty through pictures. This investigation will determine the impact an FSA photographer had on the American people through the research question: To what extent did FSA photographer Dorothea Lange have an impact on Americans attitudes towards the Great Depression? Through further exploration into the FSA program, specifically through the works of photographer Dorothea Lange in the US from the mid-1930s up to the early 1940s. It will examine a variety of sources: Dorothea Lange’s personal notes about her photographs, interviews, and a variety of books that document her work.

Part B: Summary of Evidence
One of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s most important ‘New
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Lange captured all emotion necessary to have an impact on the citizens in the US. Dorothea Lange’s photography had a captivating effect as her technique allowed for the subject of the photograph to be focused on. Lange did not photograph to be recognized herself, she photographed to portray the reality of the US during the 1930s to the 1940s. Lange was a very prevalent photographer of the time and helped develop the concept of documentary photography. As an FSA photographer, she brought awareness of the severe poverty and suffering that existed within the United

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