Why Were These Photographs of the Great Depression Rejected and Scarred?

The sadness in people’s faces, the thin children and workers, clothing so full of holes that it is barely clothing, and the ramshackle housing were all very evident conditions of the Great Depression. But, it is possible that showing the heads hung low would not get us to the other side of it. The people needed hope, at least some of the time. They needed hopeful images to help smooth the edges of the reality of the situation. We will never know how these photos would have impacted the public had they been approved. But, looking at them today gives us a much better sense of how people lived during one of the worst periods in modern history.

Take a look at these Depression era mealtimes»