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July 1939. "Children of May Avenue camp pumping water from thirty-foot well which supplies about a dozen families. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma." Photo by Russell Lee. View full size.
General caption: Photographs show exterior and interior of shacks, tents, other makeshift shelter in May Avenue camp, which is partially under bridge and adjacent to city dump and hog wallow. Squalor, filth, vermin in which poverty-stricken inhabitants dwell. Water supplied by shallow wells and water peddler. Piles of rubbish and debris in which children and adults have injured feet. Privies. Families eating food from vegetable dumps, packing houses and discarded from hospital. Children clothed in gunny sacks. Malnourished babies. Sick people. Cooking, washing, ironing, patching. Improvised chicken coop. Corn patch."
There are some people who view back then as "The Good Old Days."
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