Florence Owens Thompson

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Florence Owens Thompson
Migrant Mother, taken by Dorothea Lange in 1936.
Born	September 1, 1903 Oklahoma
Died	September 16, 1983
Spouse	Cleo Owens

Florence Owens Thompson (September 1, 1903 - September 16, 1983), born Florence Leona Christie, is famous for being the subject of Dorothea Lange's photo Migrant Mother (1936), an iconic image of the Great Depression.

Florence, born in Oklahoma and of Cherokee Indian descent, married farmer Cleo Owens on St. Valentine's Day in 1921^[1]. In 1922, Florence and Cleo Owens moved to Shafter, California. In 1924, they moved to Porterville, some 50 miles (80 km) north of Shafter, where Cleo and his brothers had found work at a sawmill. But the mill burned down in 1927, so they moved 125 miles (200 km) further north to Merced Falls. There was no "Falls", but there was a sawmill, a strong river to carry logs down from the hills, and a small town. Merced Falls sat on the eastern side of the California Central Valley in the foothills and consisted of five or six streets, one store and one school. In September 1929, Florence gave birth to the fifth of her seven children, a girl named Ruby. In the same year, the Wall Street stock market crashed.

Cleo lost his job at the sawmill in 1931, and the family moved to Oroville in northern California, where Cleo joined his brothers and sisters working in the fields picking peaches. Cleo died from a high fever at the age of 32 soon after moving, and was buried in Oroville. At the time of Cleo's death Florence was expecting a child. During the next two years, Florence stayed around Oroville while her husband's family followed the crops around the state, returning to winter at Oroville.

In 1933, Florence discovered that she was expecting another child. Afraid that the father's influential family would take the child if she returned to her mother's home, Florence bolted with her children back to the Akman farm in Oklahoma.

Florence moved back to Merced Falls in 1934, leaving the infant, Charlie, to be raised by his grandparents. As families started leaving the town, Florence moved with her children from one town to another, from one camp to the next. Florence remembered that "when Steinbeck wrote in The Grapes of Wrath about those people living under the bridge at Bakersfield—at one time we lived under that bridge. It was the same story. Didn't even have a tent then, just a ratty old quilt."^[2]

1 Florence's "fame"
2 The other 5 images
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Florence's "fame"

In 1936, while driving down US Highway 101, the car's timing chain snapped and they coasted to a stop just inside a camp^[1]. Florence set up a camp there, and Jim Hill, a man who was living with Florence, went to get help for their car with two of her sons. As Florence waited for Hill and her boys to come back, Dorothea Lange drove up and started taking photos of Florence and her family. Over 10 minutes she took 6 images. Lange wrote of the meeting:

"I did not ask her name or her history. She told me her age, that she was 32. She said that they had been living on frozen vegetables from the surrounding fields and birds that the children killed. She had just sold the tires from her car to buy food."^[2]

Her son Troy Owens recounts:

"There's no way we sold our tires, because we didn't have any to sell. The only ones we had were on the Hudson and we drove off in them. I don't believe Dorothea Lange was lying, I just think she had one story mixed up with another. Or she was borrowing to fill in what she didn't have."^[1]

It was only in the late 1970s that Florence's identity was made known, after a letter she had written was published in a local newspaper and the Associated Press sent a story around entitled "Woman Fighting Mad Over Famous Depression Photo." Florence was quoted as saying "I wish she [Lange] hadn't taken my picture. I can't get a penny out of it. She didn't ask my name. She said she wouldn't sell the pictures. She said she'd send me a copy. She never did."^[1]

Florence died of cancer complications at Scotts Valley, California in September 1983. Her Empire, California gravestone reads: "Migrant Mother–A Legend of the Strength of American Motherhood."

[edit] The other 5 images

Lange actually took six images that day, the last being the famous Migrant Mother. This is a montage of the other five pictures.

The other 5 images taken by Dorothea Lange

Persons in picture (left to right) are: Viola (Pete) in rocker, age 14, standing inside tent; Ruby, age 5; Katherine, age 4, seated on box; Florence, age 32, and infant Norma, age 1 year, being held by Florence.
Pete has moved inside the tent, and away from Lange, in hopes her photo can not be taken. Katherine stands next to her mother. Florence is talking to Ruby, who is hiding behind her mother, as Lange took the picture.
Florence is nursing Norma. Katherine has moved back from her mother as Lange approached to take this shot. Ruby is still hiding behind her mother.
Left to right are Florence, Ruby and baby Norma.
Florence stopped nursing Norma and Ruby has come out from behind her. This photograph was the one used by the newspapers the following day to report the story of the starving migrants.