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Our second visit with this family, with ten of their eleven children, now ready for their close-up.
February 1939. Brawley, Imperial County, California. "In Farm Security Administration migratory labor camp. Family of mother, father and eleven children, originally from near Mangrum, Oklahoma, where he had been tenant farmer. Came to California in 1936 after the drought. Since then has been traveling from crop to crop in California, following the harvest. Six of the eleven children attend school wherever the family stops long enough. Five older children work along with the father and mother. February 23, two of the family have been lucky and 'got a place' (a day's work) in peas on the Sinclair ranch. Father had earned about $1.73 for ten-hour day. Oldest daughter had earned $1.25. From these earnings they had to provide their transportation to the fields 20 miles away. Mother wants to return to Oklahoma, father unwilling." Photo by Dorothea Lange for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.
Tall boy on left has his father's exact ears.
The older girls are quite striking. And the oldest boy is good looking.
I do hope and pray that they led healthy and happy lives later on and had many wonderful memories.
Mangum was my grandmother's hometown. All of my grandparents were migrant workers for many years. My uncles followed the harvest from the Texas Rio Grande valley up into the Midwest and into North Dakota. Mostly wheat, cotton and corn, I believe.
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