These children in a rural schoolhouse in Austine County, Texas, pictured
in April 1943 have not yet benefited from the industrial age brought on
by the Second World War
Children were enlisted in frequent patriotic demonstrations, like this
one in May 1942 in Southington, Connecticut, to rally support for the
nation's fight against the Axis power of the Second World War
This could be a scene out of Mark Twain's 'The Adventures of Huckleberry
Finn.' A photographer captured two boys fishing in a bayou in
Schriever, Louisiana, in June 1940 outside their school, which was
building by the Farm Security Administration
The fortunes of this black family, pictured in August 1940, living on a
plantation on Bayou Bourbeau in Natchitoches, Louisiana, have likely
changed little since their ancestors were freed from slavery. An FSA
cooperative aimed to give them the opportunity to earn more wealth
These five sisters are wearing the same dress, no doubt homemade, to the Vermont State Fair in Rutland in September 1941
This photo of a little girl clutching her doll, taken between 1941 and
1942, is a powerful image about showing desolation in parts of rural
America at the time
The carnival rides at the Vermont State Fair in Rutland, pictured in
September 1941, were the highlight of the year for many children in the
rural mountainous state
The colors in this collection of photographs offer images that can feel
more lifelike than similar black and white shots. Here, two girls are
seen in a park near Union Station in Washington, DC, in 1941
A war propaganda poster is seen in this schoolhouse in San Augustine
County, Texas. The federal government made sure to rally the war effort
in even the most rural areas
At Beecher Street School, Southington, Connecticut, whose student body
was half Italian-American and half of Polish-American, patriotism became
an important ritual for the school children
These four little girls are pictured in December 1941 in front of their
run-down shanty that is company-provided housing in Puerto Rico
This little girl, who is being vaccinated by a doctor, is one of the
children reached by the improved education and advances in medical care
brought on by prosperity from the war
A homesteader's weather-worn hands show the sort of life he leads. He
feeds his daughter free barbeque from the Pie Town Fair in October 1940
A small boy sits among the cabbages at a FSA community center labor camp in Texas
A girl sits alone outside Washington's Union Station in 1943
An iconic 'Buy War Bonds' post is seen in this 1943 photo taken at a rural school in Augustine County, Texas
New Deal programs funded schools, like this one in San Augustine County,
Texas, which helped turn the tide of poverty in some of the most remote
reaches of the country
Geography was an important subject, even in rural areas, because
hundreds of thousands of American troops were fighting overseas in
far-off places
This girl takes care of her baby sister in 1940 on Bayou Bourbeau
plantation, a Farm Security Administration cooperative near
Natchitoches, Louisiana.
These children lived in the tenement district in Brockton, Massachusetts. Pictured in December 1940
This image of a boy at a store window display of Christmas ornaments,
taken between 1941 and 1942, looks like the classical view of Christmas
that was glued to the American conscience in the 1950s
This little boy and his sister are intent on this crude model airplane
while they await their parents' return at an FSA labor camp for migrant
crop pickers
Black children did not fare well during this era, if these photos are to
be an guide. This little boy was photographed near Cincinnati, Ohio in
1942 or 1943
Many children in rural areas still had to work to help support their
families. Here, four boys are pictured in 1942 at a Farm Security
Administration labor camp in Robston, Texas
These four children followed their parents to a square dance in McIntosh
County, Oklahoma, in 1939 or 1940, but they fell asleep midway through
Schools in remote Aroostook County, Maine, did not open until the
potatoes had been harvested because children had to help bring the crop
in. These two boys live outside Caribou
These children are learning to sing in a choir in Pie Town, New Mexico in October 1940
This is a another shot of the Pie Town elementary school choir
These children enjoy a primitive carnival ride at the Delta County Fair in the foothills of the Colorado Rockies in October 1940
