HISTORY OF DOROTHEA LANGE 

By Cherelle Farmer

"Photographer of the People" 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1.  Introduction  
2. Childhood
3. Career/Accomplishments
4. Death
5. Legacy
6. Work Cited

INTRODUCTION

During the 1920's America was full of bedlam and consternation, it was after World War II and during the Great Depression. It went from dissesion to the "American Dream." the experience of photographer Dorothea Lange went through the good times and through the intemperate times where photos were taken of homeless citizens and immigrants living in the middle of no where with nothing to eat. People needed help and she helped them in her own way... 

Name: Dorothea Lange

Date of Birth: May 26, 1895

Place of Birth: Hoboken, New Jersey

Date of Death: October 11, 1965

Place of Death: Idaho

Nationality: German

Gender: Female

Occupations: Journalist, Photographer

CHILDHOOD

Dorothea Nutzhorn (Lange) born in Hoboken, New Jersey, in 1895. She was the daughter of Joan Lange and Henry Nutzhorn. In 1902 when she was seven years old, she developed polio, which left her a very serious perminant and noticeable limp. When she would go play outside, other children would make fun of her because of her condition. not only did the children make fun of her but her mother was also ashamed of her. At the age of twelve, Dorothea's father walked out on the family in 1907 and left he mother on her own. Ever since then no one from the family has heard or seen from him again. This lead her to drop her middle and last names in lieu of her mother's maiden name. Shortly after her mother, brother and herself went to move with Joan's mother, Sophie in New York City. In June 1913, Dorothea graduated from Wagleigh High School in Harlem.

CAREER/ACCOMPLISHMENTS (1914-1936)

"I saw and approached the hungry and desperate mother, as if drawn by a magnet. I do not remember how I explained my presence or camera to her, but I do remember she asked no questions. I did not ask her name or history. She told me her age, that she was thirty-two."

 From 1914 to 1917 Dorothea attended training school for photography. She landed her first job with a photographer named Arnold Genthe. In 1916, she photographed the Brokaw family and launched her career as a portrait photographer. That same year she took classes for photography at Columbia State. In January 1918, Dorothea moves to San Francisco, California and opens up her own portrait studio. The famous photograph Hopi Indian was taken during her honeymoon in Hopi Lands. She also took the photo named Mother's Day Daisies. In 1936 the best portrait called migrant mother was printed and made her an influential photographer. Lange's photographs humanized the tragic consequences of the Great Depression and profoundly influenced the development of documentary photography.

"I was about five years old when the photograph was taken. We were on the way to a camp at Nipoma to work picking peas, but the peas had frozen over. We camped under a kind of lean-to we carried in the car. I remember a lady came and took photographs. My mother was about 34 at the time." Child from the photograph "Migrant Mother"

DEATH 

  Dorothea died on October 11, 1965 in Idaho. She past away due to esophageal cancer at age 70. She lived her last years with her second husband Paul Taylor, two children, three step children, and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

LEGACY

In 1972 the Whitney Museum used 27 of Lange's photographs in an exhibit entitled Executive Order 9066. This exhibit highlighted the Japanese Internment during World War 2. California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and First Lady Maria Shriver announced on May 28, 2008 that Lange will be inducted into theCalifornia Hall of Fame , located at The California Museum for History, Women ans the Arts. The induction ceremony took place on December 15 and her son accepted the honor in her place. 

WORK CITED

http://www.americaslibrary.gov/cgi-bin/page.cgi/aa/writers/lange

http://www.americanswhotellthetruth.org/pgs/portraits/Dorothea_Lange.html

www.photobucket.com 

www.flickr.com

http://www.biographybase.com

www.youtube.com