American Children in 1940s

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