Famous Great Depression Photograph Essay

398 Words2 Pages

Estefany,
Democracy is when the people vote for elected officials and new policies to represent them in government; this is usually decided by the majority. Freedom is the ability to think or speak as one desires, without restriction. As it pertains to the United States, freedom is the ability to think or speak as one desires, so long as it does not infringe on the freedom of another or violate any laws. She should have received compensation. In the course book on page 817, it mentions how many needy American like Florence and her children were left with little aid. In an article titled, “Who was the Woman in the Famous Great Depression Photograph?”, written by Sarah Stone, it states that Florence claimed that Lange assured her the picture …show more content…

In this article you see that 47 years after the photo was taken did it finally help the family out, by people donating money to help pay for her medical expense after a stroke. In the course book on page 786, it mentions that 20,000 pound of found was sent to the pea picker’s camp. What about other camps? Florence did not benefit from the Social Security Act, as she was an agricultural worker. I do not believe that the Social Security Act improved democracy or the freedom of Americans at all. In page 809 of the course book, it explains that domestic and agricultural workers, as well as those working for non-profit organizations (such as schools or hospitals), were excluded from this act—totaling about 5 million people who were excluded from the social security act. This total included a large portion of both African Americans and women. The exclusion of so many from this act shows its lack of democracy. Since the passing of the bill, all citizens are required to have a social security number and are subject to withholdings. Due to the fact that one cannot choose whether or not they have a social or the government withholds any funds, I cannot see how this improved freedom, as previously defined, in any way. Do you believe Roosevelt’s programs for recovery improved most Americans’ access to “democracy”