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The photograph that gave a face to the Great Depression
一張展現經濟大蕭條面貌的照片
For many, Florence Owens Thompson is the face of the Great Depression. Dorothea Lange captured the image while visiting a dusty California camp in February 1936, and in doing so, captured the resilience of a proud nation facing desperate times.
對很多人來說，弗洛倫絲·歐文斯·湯普森的這張臉是經濟大蕭條時期的典型代表。1936年2月，多羅西婭·蘭格在參觀加利福尼亞州一塵土飛揚的營地時捕捉到了這一鏡頭，與此同時，也捕捉到了一個自豪的民族在面臨絕境時的適應力。
Unbelievably, Thompson's story is as compelling as her portrait. Thompson was a mother of seven who'd lost her husband to a serious disease. Stranded at a labor farm in California, her family kept from going hungry on birds killed by her kids and vegetables taken from a nearby field—as meager a living as any earned by the other 2,500 workers there. The photo's impact was unbelievable. Reproduced in newspapers everywhere, Thompson's haunted face triggered an immediate public protest, quickly prompting politicians from the federal Resettlement Administration to send food and supplies. Sadly, however, Thompson and her family had already moved on, not even receiving a little bit of government cheese for their suffering, which had attracted wide public attention. In fact, no one knew the identity of the photographed woman until Thompson revealed herself years later in a 1976 newspaper article.
難以置信的是，湯普森的經歷和她的照片一樣令人矚目。她是七個孩子的母親，丈夫死于一種嚴重疾病。一家八口困在加州勞工農場，和住在那里的另外2500名工人一樣，過著吃了上頓沒下頓的生活，一家人靠著孩子打的鳥和從附近地里挖的野菜勉強充饑。這張照片產生了驚人的影響。各地報紙紛紛轉載，湯普森那張飽經滄桑、歷經磨難的臉立即引起了公眾的強烈反響，促使聯邦安置管理局的政客們送去了食物和日常用品。然而，令人遺憾的是，湯普森一家已經踏上了新的逃荒之路，他們的悲慘處境雖備受矚目，但卻連政府的一小塊奶酪都沒有得到。事實上，當時并沒有人知道照片上這名婦女的身份，直到多年以后，湯普森才在1976年的一份報紙刊登的文章中公開了自己的身份。
