FLOYD BROWN FAMILY
Vintage 1973 Documentary Photo
Washington County, Oregon
In this vintage
documentary image I was focusing on poverty as it could be found
throughout Washington County, Oregon. The subject is of Floyd Brown and
his family posed inside their house in a remote rural backwoods farming
area. The entire family included the two adult figures and their grandson. This image was featured in my 16mm
film entitled "Portraits of Poverty" which helped to bring into focus the
effects of economics and environment as it had left its impression on
the faces of the poor.
http://www.clydekeller.com/FLOYD-BROWN-FAMILY-Portrait-of-Poverty-Clyde-Keller-photo-1974_p_429.html
Cucumbers.
Acres of
cucumbers in the rich turd brown fields of Washington County, Oregon
picked by migrant farm laborers. Chicanos mostly, who were recruited
from Texas to live in smallish plywood shacks built by such landowners
as Ron
Tankersley, who owned some of the most notorious camps with the worst
conditions. It was on his land that many of my photos were taken showing
the actual conditions the workers and family members lived in. He would
recruit them with false advertising showing them photos of pretty
"modern-style houses"-- and when they'd arrive in Oregon they found
plywood shacks-- a typical bait and switch tactic. In an interview and
portrait session, Ron Tankersley, told me, the pickers love to "camp"
here, it's like a "vacation" for them. In reality, families, sometimes
over a dozen children, all lived together in square, a 20x20 foot one
room plywood shacks with inadequate water, heat, and "moldy" damaged
mattresses. Later, Ron served jail time, according to an article
published on May 6, 1989 in the Eugene Register Guard for using illegal
contractors.
I was there to take pictures of them-- and here in
the Land of Opportunity they were all seemingly proud. But these scenes
resembled another America to me, going back in time to the 1930s or
before. Bathrooms, water and cooking facilities were outside the
campground shacks.-- These photos may be be viewed at my website.
http://www.clydekeller.com/Migrant-Farm-Labor-Photography_c_26.html
