Use this sorting activity to explore the characteristic traits of five New Deal photographers and gain a deeper understanding of the Great Depression and its lasting impact on the American people.

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Although Farm Security Administration (FSA) photographers shared many of the same subjects—portraits, interiors, cotton farming, and everyday signs—they didn’t see them the same way. Their distinctive styles left clues in every frame. Can you identify the photographer by the way they see? This game challenges you to spot those characteristic traits, sharpen your visual detective skills, and discover a richer picture of life in 1930s America along the way.

The FSA photography project began as part of the New Deal’s effort to build public understanding and support for government programs responding to the Great Depression. Photography had three important jobs:

1. Show the need. Make rural poverty and the struggles of farm families visible to the nation.
2. Show relief in action. Document how government assistance was reaching people in crisis.
3. Introduce America to Americans. Create empathy by revealing the lives, communities, and challenges of people far beyond viewers’ own experiences.

Under the direction of Roy Stryker, the FSA assembled a remarkable group of photographers. They shared a common mission, but they did not share a common style. Their different artistic backgrounds, interests, and ways of seeing shaped what they noticed and how they photographed it.

Extension Activity 1: Become a Photo Detective

The Great Depression coincided with devastating droughts, dust storms, floods, and other natural disasters, and FSA photographers were there to document their impact. Display a selection of photographs and captions around the room. Challenge students to study the evidence and determine who took each photograph. Based on what they’ve learned about each photographer’s distinctive style, students should look for clues in composition, subject matter, framing, perspective, and emotional tone.

Give each photographer a different-colored Post-it and have students place their “votes” beside the photographs. Then reveal the answers. The real fun begins when students defend their choices. What visual evidence led them to their conclusions? Which clues were convincing and which were misleading? By making their case, students practice visual literacy while putting the vocabulary and photographic traits from the game to work.

1. Erosion south of Franklin. Heard County, Georgia
2. Erosion near Jackson, Mississippi
3. Power farming displaces tenants from the land in the western dry cotton area. Childress County, Texas Panhandle
4. An organ deposited by the flood on a farm near Mount Vernon, Indiana
5. Years of dust Resettlement Administration rescues victims, restores land to proper use  

Answers: Select link to lean more at the Library of Congress
1. Jack Delano, 2. Walker Evans, 3. Dorothea Lange, 4. Russell Lee, 5. Ben Shahn  

Extension Activity 2: Curate a Signature Portrait

A portrait can be an unconscious self-portrait of the person behind the camera. Every choice: who to photograph, where to stand, how to frame the scene, when to press the shutter, reveals something about the photographer’s interests, values, and way of seeing. Even the way a photographer connects with a sitter can reveal their empathy and worldview.

Now become a curator and photographic detective. Choose an FSA photographer and search the Library of Congress collection for portraits by that photographer (Search: [photographer name] + portrait). Select one signature portrait that best captures their distinctive style, but don’t reveal the photographer’s name.

Display the portraits around the room and challenge students to identify the photographer behind each image. Once the guesses are in, reveal the answers and make your case:

• What visual clues gave the photographer away?
• Which characteristic traits appear in the portrait?
• What does the photograph reveal about the photographer’s interests, values, or worldview?

The goal isn’t simply to identify the photographer, it’s to prove your case with visual evidence.

Art Activity 1: One Subject, Many Photographers

Can the same subject reveal different photographers? Put the idea to the test. Have several students photograph the same subject in the same location (a friend, school mascot, stuffed animal, or everyday object) using their phones. Give everyone the same subject, but let each photographer choose where to stand, what to include, and when to press the shutter. Then display the photographs side by side. The subject hasn’t changed, but the photographs have. Why?

Compare the images and discuss:

• What choices make each photograph distinctive?
• What characteristic traits emerge in each photographer’s image?
• What might the photographs reveal about the photographer’s interests, personality, or way of seeing?

The challenge: Can you see the photographer hiding in the photograph?

Art Activity 2: Create an Interior Self-Portrait

Can a room tell your story without showing your face? Walker Evans understood that an interior can function as a portrait. Long before Evans, European artists used carefully arranged rooms, furniture, and everyday objects to reveal something about the people who lived among them. Without showing a single person, a room can become a psychological portrait.

Now have students turn the camera on their own surroundings. Using a phone, create an interior self-portrait, a photograph of a room or personal space with no people visible. Choose the objects, angle, and framing carefully. What should you include? What should you leave out?

Then challenge classmates to “read” the photograph:

• What does the space reveal about its inhabitant?
• Which objects provide the strongest clues?
• What choices did you make to communicate something about yourself?

The challenge: Tell your story without showing yourself.

New Deal Teaching Resources

• This interdisciplinary teacher’s resource offers a range of teaching moves and language for analyzing Dorothea Lange’s Migrant Mother.
• This interdisciplinary teacher’s resource offers a range of teaching moves and language for analyzing Ben Shahn’s Allegory.
• This matching game analyses the photographs of 7 FSA photographers.
• This sorting activity explores the characteristic traits of 5 FSA photographers.