March 1937. "Migratory Mexican field worker's home next to pea field. Imperial Valley, California." 4x5 inch nitrate negative by Dorothea Lange. View full size.

June 1938. In Memphis, hundreds of colored laborers congregate near the bridge every morning at daylight in hopes of work chopping cotton on a plantation, where they are taken by truck. Reduced acreage has made employment scarce for this class of seasonal labor in all towns. "You can't live the commonest way on six bits a day. Not alone nor no way. A man like me can't get no foothold. It's a mighty tough old go. The people here in the morning are hungry, raggedy, but they don't make no hungry march." View full size. Photograph by Dorothea Lange.

June 1938. Pittsburg County, Oklahoma. "Family walking on highway, five children. Started from Idabel, bound for Krebs. In 1936 the father farmed on thirds and fourths at Eagleton, McCurtain County. Was taken sick with pneumonia and lost farm. Was refused relief in county of 15 years' residence because of temporary residence elsewhere." Photo by Dorothea Lange. View full size.

November 1938. "Kern County, California. Cotton picker's child listening to speeches of organizer at strike meeting to raise wages from 75 cents to 90 cents a hundred pounds. Strike unsuccessful." View full size. Photo by Dorothea Lange.

June 1938. Nettie Featherston, laborer's wife with three children near Childress, Texas. "I just prayed and prayed and prayed all the time that God would take care of us and not let my children starve." View full size | Audio interview.

June 1938. Nettie Featherston, wife of a migratory laborer with three children. Near Childress, Texas. "If you die, you're dead – that's all." View full size. Photo: Dorothea Lange. Bio of Nettie (1898-1984) and audio interview.

U.S. 99 in Kern County on the Tehachapi Ridge. February 1939. Migrant workers travel seasonally back and forth between the Imperial Valley and San Joaquin Valley over this ridge. View full size. Photograph by Dorothea Lange. (The billboard up ahead: "76 miles to GRAPEVINE air cooled cafe.")

Dorothea Lange, Resettlement Administration photographer, in California atop car with her giant camera. February 1936. View full size.

Fourth of July 1939 near Chapel Hill, North Carolina. "Rural filling stations become community centers and general loafing grounds. Cedargrove Team members about to play in a baseball game." Medium-format nitrate negative by Dorothea Lange. View full size.

June 1938. Caddo, Oklahoma. Migrants leave the small towns as well as the farms of the southwest. This region is a source of many emigrants to the Pacific Coast. View full size. Photograph by Dorothea Lange.

July 1939. Tenant farmer in Chatham County, North Carolina. View full size. Farm Security Administration photograph by Dorothea Lange.

April 1939. Farm Security Administration migrant camp at Westley, California. Migrant mother with sick baby and agricultural workers medical association card. View full size. Photograph by Dorothea Lange.

Leland, Mississippi. June 1937. View full size. Photograph by Dorothea Lange.

October 1939. Farm Security Administration camp unit at Merrill, Oregon. The camp nurse introduces doctor to mother of sick baby. View full size.

July 1936. Peach picker in Musella, Georgia. Earns 75 cents a day. View full size. Photograph by Dorothea Lange.