Dust Bowl Refugee - California 1936

An unknown man, a Dust bowl refugee, in California in February of 1936. He is quoted on the original photo as saying : "We was starved out and we live on, perhaps. We could maybe find a little work if we could afford to roll"

I think this means that while he (and perhaps his family) were able to get to California from their home in the Southwest, he needed money to continue on to the fields in California. Many refugees traveled to the more fertile (and unaffected) farms in the valleys of California. Their descendants still live in California.

This photo was taken by Dorothea Lange, a photographer paid by the Farm Security Administration to document the effects of the Dust Bowl.