Johnny Cash – Object #2 – Arkansas Primary Source Sets

Young flood refugee in the camp at Forrest City, Arkansas

<p>The black and white portrait shows a African American child standing in the doorway to a teepee style tent. Clothing is laying around the posts of the tent. Many others tents and a water tower are in the background.</p>

Photograph of a child in the refugee camp for victims of the 1937 flood located at Forrest City, Arkansas, in 1937.

Questions:
Describe the scene in the photograph. How would you describe the child in this photograph? Why do you think this photograph was taken? How do we respond to natural disasters today?

Citations

Locke, Edwin. “Young flood refugee in the camp at Forrest City, Arkansas.” Photograph. February 1937. From Library of Congress: Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Black-and-White Negatives.