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[REV 25-NOV-2014]
Vintage photos of:
April 1941. "Schoolchildren in Franklin, Heard County, Georgia." Medium format negative by Jack Delano for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.
Overalls, coveralls, dungarees -- regardless of the what they were called in this neck of the woods, there is a charming uniqueness to each boys' "make and model." The different styles remind me of a comment about Norman Rockwell observing and painting what was called "the expressive vocabulary of shoes." I'll call this the expressive vocabulary of bib overalls as well as a study in practical pencil placement.
On the boy in front. When I went to school in the 1950s, that was the sign of someone who rode his bike to school. Rolling your pant leg up made it less likely to get caught in the chain, if you were missing the chainguard.
Everyone in that county is related to everyone else, and that was probably the entire male population under 15 years old for the whole county in 1941. Heard County has always been one of the least populated counties in Georgia and is still desolate. Heard County and Greene County (which we have seen in earlier photos) are also two of the least prosperous counties in the state.
A whole passel of freckle-faced redheaded boys on the left! I wonder if they're all brothers or cousins?
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