Florence Thompson, the
Migrant Mother in Dorothea Lange's famous 1936 photo, holds up her likeness
during an interview after her identity was discovered, October 10, 1978
Thompson's identity was discovered in the
late 1970s. In 1978, acting on a tip, Modesto Bee reporter Emmett Corrigan
located Thompson at her mobile home in Space 24 of the Modesto Mobile Village
and recognized her from the 42-year-old photograph. Thompson was quoted as
saying: "I wish she [Lange] hadn't taken my picture. I can't get a penny
out of it. She didn't ask my name. She said she wouldn't sell the pictures. She
said she'd send me a copy. She never did." As Lange was funded by the
federal government when she took the picture, the image was public domain, and
Lange was not entitled to royalties. However, the picture did help make Lange a
celebrity and earned her "respect from her colleagues."
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