Snapshots of the Past

Macon county, Ga. Jan. 1940. Plowing cotton field for spring planting – Historic Reproduction

Macon county, Ga. Jan. 1940. Plowing cotton field for spring planting, 1940 Jan. — historic photograph
Macon county, Ga. Jan. 1940. Plowing cotton field for spring planting, 1940 Jan.. Historic photograph from the Barns & Farms collection.

(Originally scanned by the Library of Congress. Each image is professionally and digitally cleaned of artifacts such as color bars and extra borders prior to printing.)

Description

A window into the past: Macon county, Ga. Jan. 1940. Plowing cotton field for spring planting, preserved in this historic photograph. An authentic image from the Library of Congress, it carries the weight of the real historical record.

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Macon county, Ga. Jan. 1940. Plowing cotton field for spring planting

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Taken in January 1940 in Macon County, Georgia, this view shows mules pulling a plow through a cotton field in preparation for spring planting, a scene still common across the rural South at the time. Photographers working for the Farm Security Administration traveled through farm country during the Depression to document tenant farming and agricultural labor, and the catalog record for this picture identifies African American workers in the field. Winter was the season for breaking and readying the ground, so the plowing reflects an animal-powered routine that tractors were only beginning to change in parts of Georgia by 1940.

Created / published1940 Jan.
Medium1 photographic print.
GenrePhotographic prints 1940.
NotesFarm Security Administration and Office of War Information Collection. Photoprint by Ackerman. No. S-5987.
SubjectsMules--Georgia--Macon County--1940. Plowing--Georgia--Macon County--1940. African Americans--Employment--Georgia--Macon County--1940.
SourceLibrary of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division
Original scan1,341 × 1,536 px · prints to 4 × 5 in at 300 dpi
ReferenceAMZ-SOTP-HPA-163997

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