[JimSEA]

These folks didn't have reason to be ashamed. They did their best, as the article finally gets around to.

My Dad also was a Montana Slim fan. He was a Lake County (OR) cowboy who went mining during the depression. His favorite song was STRAWBERRY ROAN

[KayEyeDoubleDee]

Katherine McIntosh holds the photograph taken with her mother in 1936.

The photo is best known as "Migrant Mother." "It was to help the people in the plight that we were all in."

McIntosh says the photo helped motivate her to "make sure I never lived like that again."

[TomServo]

ping..

[autumnraine]

Just saw that picture this morning.

[autumnraine]

Am I the only one who thinks that even with the dirt, the stress and sadness, that her mother was stunningly beautiful?

[koraz]

A true American success story. They lived hard times that young people today can’t begin to understand. Yet, they persevered and improved their lot in life.

[autumnraine]

Her mom would put newborns in cotton sacks and pull them along as she picked cotton. The older kids would stay in front, so mom could keep a close eye on them. "We would pick the cotton and pile it up in front of her, and she'd come along and pick it up and put it in her sack," McIntosh says

My grandmother did this with my aunts and uncles too. Then to my mother as my aunts and uncles picked cotton along with them. Then they would go home and tend to the garden that fed them.

[koraz]

And shame on CNN for the headline “We were ashamed.”

THAT IS NOT THE POINT AT ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[InsensitiveConservative]

I’ve seen the picture before. I don’t see any reason it would bring shame to anyone. They worked hard and took care of their own. I would think shame would be on those who sit around with their hands out.

I agree. A beautiful woman indeed.

[McGruff]

Bush’s Fault?

[PowderMonkey]

My Dad's stories of grinding poverty, starving family members afflicted with rickets and dieing of scarlet fever, the loss of their farm, and surving the great depression were enough to make you swallow hard and think to yourself “could I have survived all that?” They certainly did, but it affected them all their lives. My Dad starved as a boy. As a consequence, he insisted on keeping our refrigerator jammed full. If he could stick his clenched fist into an open spot, he went out and bought something to fill the void. If upset or bothered by insomnia, he would get up in the dead of night, and stare into that solid-packed refrigerator. It calmed him. House lights were kept on, at home or not. He dreaded coming home to a darkened house. When air conditioning came along, he kept the thermostat so low that frost would form on the windows in the summer. He had come far in life. Very far indeed. We had an air conditioned house with its own dedicated phone line (no party line for him!)And best of all, he reveled in the fact that my mom could buy her own car with her own money. We had not one, but TWO cars in the driveway! A far cry from that starving depression-era farm kid he once was. Sometimes I feel ashamed at what's become of the country he and his brothers fought for and entrusted to us.

[day10]

Compare and contrast the circumstances/stories surrounding these 2 pictures - both of which have been posted on FR today:





See here for the story of the botton picture: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2142155/posts

[Our man in washington]

A very nice picture.

But the depression would have probably been over by 1936 when this picture was taken if Roosevelt hadn’t wrecked the economy with his idiotic policies. People show pictures like this to show why the government needs to help the downtrodden, but the truth is that if the government had just gotten out of the way in 1933, it would have been a lot harder to find poor people in 1936.

[4yearlurker]

My mother was born in 1917. She grew up on a farm in South Jersey. I remember she used to eat lard sandwiches. She ate them during the depression and still ate them in the 1950s.

[444Flyer]

From one of my favorite stories titled “Children of the Dust Bowl: The True Story of the School at Weedpatch Camp” by Jerry Stanley:

Pg.31-32

“...They sang the Okie tunes that gave them identity and strength, for the people in Weedpatch Camp had learned to accept hardship without showing weakness. “Now, come on, everybody, quit that complaining,” one woman said. “Every cloud has a silver lining. If you don't like things here in camp, be nice enough to keep it to yourself.” “’Tain’t no use to sit an’ whine,” one song advised, while another, “Tow-Sack Tattler,” went like this:

It takes a little courage;
And a little self-control;
And a grim determination;
If you want to reach the goal;

It takes a deal of striving;
And a firm and stern-set chin;
No matter what the battle;
If you really want to win.

You must take a blow and give one.
You must risk and you must lose
And expect with the battle
You must suffer from a bruise.

But you mustn't wince or falter
Lest a fight you might begin.
Be a man and face the battle.
That's the only way to win.”

I wonder if the majority in America can find this kind of strength, resourcefulness and self-determination ever again.

[windcliff]

ping

[nutmeg]

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