This photo, titled "Migrant Mother,” was taken during the Great Depression. A portrait of Florence Thompson and three of her chi
ldren. Read the excerpt about the photo from Years of Dust. Lange, the children recalled, had promised not to publish the photo, but had done exactly that. It appeared on March 10, 1936, in the San Francisco News, above First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt's weekly "My Day" column. Thompson saw the picture and felt betrayed. For the rest of her life, she resented Lange's use of her image for publicity. Thompson was an active woman, who had helped organize farmworkers' unions. "She was a very strong woman," said daughter Katherine, seen in the photo by her mother's right shoulder. "She was a leader. I think that's one of the reasons she resented the photo—because it didn't show her in that light." How would knowing the true background of the photo most likely affect a reader? It might make the reader disregard the story told by Thompson’s daughter. It might make the reader reconsider the emotions that the photo stirs up. It might make the reader ignore this type of emotional image in the future. It might make the reader distrust photos that appeal to people’s emotions.
