1a. What are the people doing in the first photograph?
2a. Describe the man's task in the second image.
3a. What is happening in the third photograph?
4a. What do these three images have in common? How do they differ from one another?
5a. How effective are the photos in conveying an idea? How well do they speak to the viewer? Which of the three is the most powerful? Why?
1b. How does their movement appear to be a struggle? Why are they leaning forward?
2b. How does the man seem to view his circumstances and his task?
3b. How does this action provide a solution to the problem?
4b. What message do these photographs have for the viewer? Do they convey hope, anger, fear, happiness, humor, sadness, frustration, or some other emotion? Explain your answer.
5b. In what ways do the photographs convey the ideas and themes introduced in Out of the Dust? How do the two forms—photography and expressive writing—differ in their treatment of the same subject matter? How are they similar?
Aim. Like writers, many photographers work to achieve specific purposes. Rothstein posed his subjects in many of the photographs he took. What do you think he achieved by asking the people to pose in a certain way? How would the photographs have been different if he had simply taken them while people were working and going about everyday life? What was Rothstein's aim?
1. Write a set of interview questions that you might ask the subjects in Arthur Rothstein's photographs.
2. Write a copy for a 1930s public service announcement that explains the plight of the Dust Bowl farm families and asks for donations. Include a list of items you think people might need.
3. Write a one-page short story based on one or two of Arthur Rothstein's photographs. Imagine the story is for young children who know nothing about this place or time period.
Studying Photographs: Research Log. Access the collection "America from the Great Depression to World War II: Photographs from the FSA-OWI 1935–1945" at the Library of Congress Internet site. The collection is located at http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/fsahtml/ and contains thousands of photographs you can view on a computer screen. Look at photographs from the time period taken by other well-known photographs, such as Dorothea Lange, Walker Evans, Howard Lieberman, Ben Shahn, and Gordon Parks. What is the style of each photographer? Whose photographs seem mostly documentary? Do any photographers take a more artistic approach? Which photographers tend to focus on people? Which focus mainly on places, scenes, or landscapes? What generalizations can you make about each photographer's work?
1. Photographer: Notes:
2. Photographer: Notes:
3. Photographer: Notes:
4. Photographer: Notes:
Writing Directions. As an adult, you may have a job that requires you to travel. Imagine you are going on assignment to assess living conditions in the Oklahoma Panhandle region 75 years after the Great Depression. Locate Cimarron County, Oklahoma, on a map. Use road maps of North America or of the United States to find the best route from where you live to Boise City, the county seat of Cimarron County. Write out detailed directions for driving there. Use precise, detailed language in your directions.
Researching History: In pairs or small groups, research the migrations caused by the drought and dust storms in the midwestern Dust Bowl. One or two students should examine the migration patterns of people who moved away from the southern part of the Dust Bowl, including Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, and Colorado. The other student or students should look at the migration patterns of people in the northern Midwest— Nebraska, Wyoming, and South Dakota. Compare and contrast your findings. How many people migrated? To where did the northeners migrate? To where did the southerners migrate? How was each group welcomed in its new location? Summarize your findings and your analysis of the research to present to the class. Research Log. Use this log to keep track of the sources you use, the information you find, and your reactions to what you learn.
Books and print sources:
Internet sources:
How many people migrated? To where did the northerners migrate? To where did the southerners migrate? How was each group welcomed in its new location? Summarize your findings and your analysis of the research to present to the class.
Editing for Spelling Errors. Review the Language Arts Survey 3.95–3.97, "Editing for Spelling Errors." Then rewrite the sentences below correcting the misspelled words.
Example: fascinating Arthur Rothstein's photographs of the Dust Bowl are fasinating.
1. Once a prosperous farmer, the man became a begar during the Great Depression.
2. The government sent help to releive the farmers.
3. The photograph became a symble of the Depression.
4. For the people of Oklahoma, the dust storms were a huge catastrophy.
5. The family hid in the seller when the big storm hit.
6. The farmer redesigned the irrigation system for greater eficiency.
7. The enviernment was hostile.
8. The exhaustion on the face of the man in the photograph is unmistakeable.
9. His cloths are worn and ragged.
10. The comitee met to discuss the problem.
Creative Language. Examine the photographs on pages 838 and 839 of your textbook. Write down at least five words for each photograph that describe the emotion captured by the photographer, Arthur Rothstein. Try to be as imaginative as possible with the words you choose.
1. Farmer and Sons Walking in the Face of a Dust Storm:
2. Farmer Pumping Water from a Well:
3. Dust Bowl Farmer Raising a Fence to Keep It from Being Buried under Drifting Sand:
