Migrant Mother

On this day in 1839, the French government announced the invention of the daguerreotype, one of the earliest forms of photography, as a gift “free to the world.” Because of that, today, World Photography Day is globally celebrated. Of course, we are also celebrating it with one of the most iconic photographs ever taken. 

Migrant Mother was taken in 1936 by American photographer Dorothea Lange in Nipomo, California, during her work for the Resettlement Administration (later the Farm Security Administration). It shows a mother gazing anxiously into the distance, holding an infant in her lap while two older children lean on her shoulders with their faces turned away. The presence of the children enhances the image’s emotional power, representing the mother’s emotional and physical connection to her children.

The image captures the hardships faced by migrant farm workers who flocked to California during the Great Depression. Though initially anonymous, the subject was identified as Florence Owens Thompson in 1978.

Beyond its cultural symbolism, the photograph had a lasting personal impact. In 1983, when Florence Thompson was gravely ill with cancer and lacked insurance, her children’s appeal for help—published alongside Migrant Mother—raised $30,000 in donations. Thompson passed away later that year, but the image of her face remains one of the most recognizable representations of resilience in American history, even as many remain unaware of Lange’s name or the subject’s true identity.

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P.P.S. Did you know that Dorothea Lange played a key role in the record-breaking exhibition The Family of Man? This story explores her contribution.

P.P.P.S. Lange was one of the earliest famous women photojournalists. Meet 13 groundbreaking female photographers!