Hispanic or Latinx Migrant Farmer & Sanora Babb

Combatting stereotypes is not only done through theater, but by writers and photographers who want to shed light on the truth. Photos like these force the viewer to reconsider what they think of, when they think of the "typical" migrant worker.

Understanding the full purpose of the Farm Security Administration's photography program is a heavy undertaking. The choice to carefully collect, catalogue, and dispense these images was not purely from a humanitarian or sinister interest. However, the iconic images that are conjured up are rarely of Hispanic or Latinx people. Images of non-white mirgrant farmers was not going to fulfill the needs for what could be described as almost helpful propaganda. But this photograph was not for the public, it was for Sanora Babb, the woman pictured here. She would form a close bond with several of the migrant farmers, and that extended to Hispanic workers too. 

The FSA's photography was an effective political ideological tool. But they were essentially the only government agency focusing on rural poverty and the lack of funding needed. This national coverage did not extend to people of color who were also struggling to survive. The nature of rural poverty is distinctive in that it is isolating physically, as well as psychologically, that varies depending on your race or ethnicity. Documenting what those experiences looked like was not a priority, but here is a white woman who captions the photo for herself to keep as "after our win in a walnut strike." Uncovering photos like these provide the evidence of Hispanic and/or Latinx families presence during the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. 

Mexican immigrants have continued to travel to the United States for employment in agriculture and this has become a shared experience throughout the community's history in the 20th century. Women like Babb, used their voices to highlight inequality. Over the next few decades, efforts to garner protections for farmers spread out across the United States and the world. Check out this source for an example of these efforts: International Conference on the Defense of the Undocumented Worker in 1980.