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July 1936. "Negro woman who has never been out of Mississippi." Medium format negative by Dorothea Lange for the Resettlement Administration. View full size.
No, I'm not imitating Tom Jones, but in my opinion, lots of people did not venture far from home in 1936 as most were pretty hard up and had no funds with which to see the world, sometimes not even the state next door. This lady probably eked out an existence on next to nothing as this looks like the Delta cotton plantation area which is now peppered with gambling casinos but used to be among the poorest places in the nation but was one of the most prolific producers in giving birth to the blues. After rereading this, I understand what my writing teacher meant when she said my sentences were too long.
I would bet that not only had she never been out of the state, but several generations of her family hadn't either! I wish Dorothea had given us her name, so we could try to find out something about her life following this.
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