Images of Suffering and Resolve in Black and White

The Farm Security Administration Photographs
It is difficult to overstate the impact of the FSA on American photography during the mid 1930’s. Led by Roy E. Stryker, Chief of the Historical Division, the FSA executed a photographic survey of rural America using handheld cameras employed by photographers such as Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange, Marion Post Wolcott, and Russell Lee. These photographers had grown up in the shadow of World War I, were well versed in the aesthetics of black and white photography and could be counted as among the most gifted photojournalists of any era. They worked with a specific social mission to document the hardship faced by those suffering the loss of home, harvest, and health. The work done by FSA in the mid 1930's advanced the political imperative of the Roosevelt administration to sell New Deal policies to the American public by providing meaningful visual connections to the suffering that touched nearly every American in some way or another. “The government file of photographs Stryker assembled struck a balance between depictions of existing conditions that warranted reform, documentation of current reform programs that offered a positive vision of the future, and images that captured in the present certain mythic visions of the past.” (Stein) His photographers sought to tell their stories through depictions of ordinary citizens , albeit ones of decidedly lesser economic fortunes. Black and white shots from these photographers embody the best characteristics of American identity. In them we see determination, perserverence in the face of adversity, the nobility of the agrarian lifestyle and the essence of individual will. Stryker prized the artistic abilities of his photographers, and ensured that they were firmly wedded to communicating the social and political intent of the agency. He strictly controlled their work by helping to storyboard their shots and control access to their photographic supplies. He provided sometimes stern guidance with great candor in written instructions to his photographers. Stryker worked to ensure that his photographers knew of the style and interests of photographs needed by magazines and periodicals of the day so that the work would have an outlet. The technique of focusing on particular cases or families to tell a broader story became the preferred vehicle for the photo essays of the period. There were clear victims, easily discerned causes and effects, and suffering was on display front and center. By nearly every account, the black and white work of FSA photographers stands as a testament to the hardship faced by individuals in the 1930’s and serves as a linchpin of nearly any account of the period. Over 160,000 photographs were shot by photographers from the FSA and its successor, the Office of War Information. Most are available online through the Library of Congress.