30x40 cm Exhibition print from DOROTHEA LANGE - PHOTOGRAPHIEN, Galerie Bilderwelt, Berlin 1998 In November 1940, legendary documentary photographer Dorothea Lange traveled to Arizona—including Maricopa County areas like Buckeye and nearby Eloy—on assignment for the federal government (documenting rural conditions for agencies like the Farm Security Administration and Bureau of Agricultural Economics). Key aspects of her photographs from this region include: • Focus on Migrant Labor: Lange primarily documented the lives of seasonal agricultural workers, specifically those harvesting cotton. • Humanizing Portrayals: Her photos frequently captured individual workers and families—such as portraits of migrant cotton pickers and their children—highlighting the grueling nature of stoop labor, poverty, and transient living conditions. • Social Realism: Much like her iconic Depression-era work, the Buckeye and Arizona photographs served as powerful visual testimonies to the social and economic realities faced by displaced workers seeking a livelihood in the American Southwest