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Urban Poverty

Bread Line

by Morris Huberland

The Great Depression ravaged America throughout the 1930s, beginning in September 1929 on “Black Tuesday,” the single most devastating day for the New York Stock Exchange in history. 

In January 1931 the President’s Emergency Committee for Unemployment Relief claimed 4 to 5 million people were unemployed, climbing to almost 25% of the U.S. population by 1933.  People who had always been able to support themselves found they were unable to secure a job to put food on the table and often lost their homes.  Bread lines became a common sight, for innumerable families had to depend on charity in order to survive. 

Huberland captures the hopelessness many were feeling in this photograph of a bread line.

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Bread Line - Morris Huberland
Morris Huberland - Bread Line. late 1930s. Gelatin silver print: 6¾ x 7¼ in.

Photo League Collection, Museum Purchase with funds provided by Elizabeth M. Ross, the Derby Fund, John S. and Catherine Chapin Kobacker, and the Friends of the Photo League.

Other Artwork Dealing With Urban Poverty...
Ida Abelman Francis Chapin Phillip Evergood George Gilbert Irwin Hoffman
Morris Huberland Morris Huberland Elizabeth Olds Moses Soyer Raphael Soyer

Rural Poverty Urban Poverty Anti-Poverty Efforts Fall Short Labor Disputes

Ida Abelman
Thomas Hart Benton
Lucienne Bloch
Harry Brodsky
Paul Cadmus
Francis Chapin
Jack Delano
Phillip Evergood
George Gilbert
Hugo Gellert
Joseph Hirsch
Irwin Hoffman
Morris Huberland
Merritt Mauzey
Elizabeth Olds
Walter Quirt
Moses Soyer
Raphael Soyer
Lynd Ward


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