Depression Pictures - Historic Shots of Hardship

When one thinks about depression pictures, it is the series of photographs that were taken during the time of the great depression in the 1930s that springs readily to mind. The pictures are all taken in black and white which is somehow more evocative of the period. The great depression was a time of tremendous suffering and abject poverty for millions of people, not only in the US, but across the whole world.

Some of the most haunting of these depression pictures are the photographs capturing various images in “The Great Dust Bowl”. This is the name that was given to describe the period of severe drought that affected the plains of the US and Canada between the years 1930 to 1936; so not only did the inhabitants have the misery of the great depression to deal with, but they also had to contend with sand everywhere.

The invasive sand got into ears, eyes, lungs, food, water, absolutely everything. The sand was the result of land erosion and severe drought, and it was whipped up by the winds into sand storms that turned the sky black, hiding the sun behind its billowing mass.

The great depression pictures were taken to capture the hardships of the times, and they have succeeded brilliantly, none more so than the photographs of the “Okies” en route to California.

The barren background’, the truck towing everything the owners possessed in one overfilled trailer; the mother squatting in the dirt track road, her baby lying on an old towel on the ground; it’s a stunning realization of the difficulties of the times. It’s also paints the background to the classic movie “The Grapes of Wrath” from the Steinbeck’s classic novel describing life in the great depression.

Pictures are a great way of capturing history and depression pictures tell us a lot, not just about the difficulty of the times, but also about the courage of the people. The American people have never been a people to give in lightly, and the ordeals of the great depression tested their mettle to the full.

There is another famous picture, perhaps the most famous of them all; it’s certainly plastered all over the web when you search under anything to do with the great depression.

It’s a picture of a mother with her two children. She has a handsome face, the lines in her forehead have etched her trials and tribulations into her face, but as she stares out ahead, one can determine a look of sheer courage and determination that says no matter what, she and her two children will survive the ordeals ahead of them.

The last batch of depression pictures I am going to review are those of farms being foreclosed and put up for sale. They express so well just how forlorn these times were. The farms represent not only people’s homes but their livelihoods too.

Can you possibly imagine the true devastation that those families experienced as their very homes were torn away from beneath them? Nowhere to live, nothing to eat, no money, and no social security; a truly devastating position to be forced into.

Perhaps the depression pictures will serve a purpose to never let us forget and to make darned sure we never let it happen again.

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Depression Pictures

the great depression pictures

Depression Pictures - Historic Shots of Hardship

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