New large poster at Zazzle
Wife of a migratory laborer with three children. Near Childress, Texas. Nettie Featherston; photo by Dorothea Lange, June 1938. “I just prayed and prayed and prayed all the time that God would take care of us and not let my children starve…”
Nettie Featherston and her family were trying to get to California when they ran out of money in Carey, Texas, in 1937. A local cotton grower took pity on the family and hired them to harvest his cotton. They were living in a small shack near Childress when photographer Dorothea Lange drove up, talked with Nettie and took photos of her. Lange recorded the desperation in her face and in her voice: “If you die, you’re dead – that’s all.” Nettie eventually moved to Lubbock, Texas, and never made it to California although several in her family did. (Brief bio and portion of oral history)
Library of Congress image (8b32434a)
Eyes Of The Great Depression 005 at Exit78