[Sahelian zone of West Africa, 1973: woman carrying large metal container on head]

Share

The particular detail here is the woman herself, balancing a large metal container on her head against the dry landscape of the Sahel, the semi-arid belt that stretches across West Africa south of the Sahara. The picture dates to 1973, a year when the region was in the grip of a severe drought that killed livestock, withered crops and drove many families to depend on food aid and long walks for water. The caption card's tags, which include famine, drought and goats, point to that crisis, and the photograph is credited to the United Nations and the U.S. Agency for International Development, two bodies that documented relief efforts there. Water-carrying scenes like this one show how much of daily survival in the region fell on women.

More from the Historic Print Archive collection

Snapshots of the Past helps heritage brands, museums, historians and storytellers tell stories with history: historic prints, image licensing and historical storytelling drawn from more than 25 years of research and curation.