The Great Depression brought migrant workers to Birmingham in 1937 [photographs]

The Great Depression brought migrant workers to Birmingham in 1937 [photographs]

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In the years 1935-1941 in the United States, the whole country was devastated by the Great Depression. Many families lost their farms and homes and took to the road as migrant workers who followed the crops that needed to be harvested.

Life was difficult for these families, especially those with children as these photographs of migrant workers on the outskirts of Birmingham in 1937 reveal. The photographs were taken by Arthur Rothstein of the Farm Security Administration.

Migrant workers from Indiana in 1937 camped near Birmingham (Library of Congress)

Child of migrant family near Birmingham, Alabama 1937 (Library of Congress)

Children who lived in a migrant camp on U.S. Highway No. 31, near Birmingham, Alabama (Library of Congress)

Making chairs to sell to tourists in a migrant camp on highway near Birmingham, Alabama (Library of Congress)

Scene of migrant camp on outskirts of Birmingham, Alabama (Library of Congress)

Camp for migrants near Birmingham, Alabama (Library of Congress)

Tent occupied by sharecropper family who is now living in a migrant camp near Birmingham, Alabama. Note water supply at right (Library of Congress)

Washing clothes in a migrant camp near Birmingham, Alabama (Library of Congress)

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