si
ce1919，shewasmovedbythehomelesspeopleastheGreatDepressio
bega
totakeits
toll，a
dshestartedphotographi
gthem．Thesephotographsledtoherbei
ghiredbythe
federalFarmSecurityAdmi
istratio
（FSA），formedtoraiseaware
essofa
dprovideaid
topoorfarmers．La
gecloselyide
tifiedwiththeFSAsmissio
，whichwasto（6）
theeffectsoftheDepressio
o
America
s，bri
gi
gatte
tio
totheirstrugglessothatsuch
eve
tswould
everrecur．Duei
parttoherworkwiththeFSA，La
gebecamek
ow
asa
pio
eerofdocume
taryphotography，a（7）
shedislikedbecauseshefelttheterm
did
otreflectthepassio
atesocialmotivatio
sthatfueledherwork．
DorotheaLa
getookthisphotographMigra
tMother，Nipomo，Califor
iai
1936，while
employed
bytheFSAprogram．I
Nipomo，Califor
ia，La
gecameacrossFlore
ceOwe
sThompso

a
dherchildre
i
acampfilledwithfieldworkerswhoselivelihoodsweredevastatedbythe
failureofthepeacrops．Recalli
ghere
cou
terwithThompso
yearslater，shesaid，