NBC's Bob Dotson reports on the Great Depression and the so-called "Dust Bowl Mona Lisa," Florence Thompson, who was made famous when photographer Dorothea Lange took her picture at a Nipomo, California migrant farm worker camp in 1936.
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I can't say that I ever met Mrs Thompson but I also can't say that I didn't. She doesn't look familiar in this video, but man, it was 55 or 60 years ago that I might have met her. While I did know she lived in Modesto, I didn't find out she lived in that particular trailer camp until just a few years ago after I moved out here.
That side of Modesto on the south bank of the Tuolumne River had a shitload of farm labor camps that were turned into trailer camps after the funding ran out. When I say trailer camp, I'm not talking about mobile homes, but tow-behind camper trailers. Anyways, a bunch of the Okie migrants stayed on, many of which were my mom's aunts and uncles in that one camp which was nicer than most. As I recall, there were maybe 40 trailers there and it was a pretty tight knit community in itself. Last time I was in there, during the early 2000s when I was doing outreach for the homeless with my ex, the place was full of dope fiends and thieves.
Anyways, any time we went to visit Mom's relatives back in the 1960s, she would just turn us loose to play with the grandkids of the older folks that lived there. When lunchtime rolled around, us kids ate with whoever we were playing with, so if the kids I was playing with were Mrs Thompson's grandkids I probably ate with them outside of her trailer. I'd like to think so, anyway.
Her gravesite and headstone HERE
Those folks were so much strong than we are and America was a better place
ReplyDeleteJD
I damn near wept. Ten kids!
ReplyDeleteAnd look at that family photo.
My great grandparents made the same trip around the same time with 9 or 10 kids and had a hard enough time. Grapes of Wrath kind of people.
DeleteGrapes of Wrath. One of my favorite Steinbeck. I've read it a few times over the years.
DeleteI think the Oakies built the first neighborhoods in South Modesto and the Airport district. Had a friend who had family from the dust bowl that lived in the airport district back in the 80's. Were you talking about the trailer parks on River Rd. between S. 9th and Mitchell? Thanks for the neat find, I never knew she was buried in Stanislaus County.
ReplyDeleteYup, they had to settle outside of town because the good people of Modesto didn't want those dirty Okies in town, and that's how SouthMo and Airport came to be.
DeleteI don't know if that one trailer camp on River Road was a migrant camp or not, to be honest.
My mother’s father was 12 years old when he left Circleville Kansas in 1912. Worked ranches in Oklahoma and made his way west when shit went bad. A patient at the Tuberculosis hospital in Napa, worked at the Presidio in SF and eventually a life in US Customs. I loved that old man. Tougher than nails, became Mayor of Pleasant Hill, CA where I live today. Legio XIX
DeleteAnd the evening news was worth watching.
ReplyDeleteBackwoods Okie
Nothing I like better than a proud American. Great story.
ReplyDeleteCool story cause we cant find these stories for current times!
ReplyDeleteI still remember that photo.
ReplyDeleteThe commies won't be satisfied until we're all in camps.
ReplyDeleteCount on it.
Today's kids are insufferable chat machines. From what i remember, she wasn't a fan of her pic for a very long time.
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