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Items African American day laborers standing near and on the back of farm trucks parked on the side of a road near the Hallan Bridge while drivers bid and offer them between 50 cents and one dollar to work as cotton pickers on Mississippi and Arkansas plantations, Memphis, Tennessee, October 1939.
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African American day laborers standing near and on the back of farm trucks parked on the side of a road near the Hallan Bridge while drivers bid and offer them between 50 cents and one dollar to work as cotton pickers on Mississippi and Arkansas plantations, Memphis, Tennessee, October 1939.

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Library division & collection with this item:

LIBRARY DIVISION
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Photographs and Prints Division

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COLLECTION
Farm Security Administration Collection

View as book

SUB-COLLECTION
Tennessee.

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SUB-COLLECTION
Marion Post Wolcott.

This Item

African American day laborers standing near and on the back of farm trucks parked on the side of a road near the Hallan Bridge while drivers bid and offer them between 50 cents and one dollar to work as cotton pickers on Mississippi and Arkansas plantations, Memphis, Tennessee, October 1939.

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Title
African American day laborers standing near and on the back of farm trucks parked on the side of a road near the Hallan Bridge while drivers bid and offer them between 50 cents and one dollar to work as cotton pickers on Mississippi and Arkansas plantations, Memphis, Tennessee, October 1939.
Names
United States. Farm Security Administration (Sponsor)
Wolcott, Marion Post, 1910-1990 (Photographer)
Collection

Farm Security Administration Collection

Tennessee.

Marion Post Wolcott.

Dates / Origin
Date Created: 1935 - 1944
Date Created: 1939-10
Library locations
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Photographs and Prints Division
Shelf locator: Sc Photo Farm Security Administration Collection
Topics
Tennessee
Cotton pickers
Memphis (Tenn.)
African American agricultural laborers
Day laborers
Farm trucks
Genres
Photographs
Notes
Content: Original negative #: 30631-M5; Caption on back: "Day laborers being hired for cotton picking on Mississippi and Arkansas plantations. Between about 4 to 6:30 A.M., every morning during the season near the Hallan Bridge in Memphis, Tennessee crowds of negroes in the streets gather and are loaded into trucks by drivers who bid and offer them from 50¢ per day to $1.00. October 1939."
Physical Description
Extent: 1 photographic print: gelatin silver, 8 x 10 in.
Gelatin silver prints
Type of Resource
Still image
Identifiers
NYPL catalog ID (B-number): b22609769
Universal Unique Identifier (UUID): f640c400-c612-012f-9ab7-58d385a7bc34
Rights Statement
The New York Public Library believes that this item is in the public domain under the laws of the United States, but did not make a determination as to its copyright status under the copyright laws of other countries. This item may not be in the public domain under the laws of other countries. Though not required, if you want to credit us as the source, please use the following statement, "From The New York Public Library," and provide a link back to the item on our Digital Collections site. Doing so helps us track how our collection is used and helps justify freely releasing even more content in the future.

Item timeline of events

  • 1939: Created
  • 2015: Digitized
  • 2025: Found by you!
  • 2026

MLA Format

Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Photographs and Prints Division, The New York Public Library. "African American day laborers standing near and on the back of farm trucks parked on the side of a road near the Hallan Bridge while drivers bid and offer them between 50 cents and one dollar to work as cotton pickers on Mississippi and Arkansas plantations, Memphis, Tennessee, October 1939." The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1939. https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47df-f988-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99

Chicago/Turabian Format

Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Photographs and Prints Division, The New York Public Library. "African American day laborers standing near and on the back of farm trucks parked on the side of a road near the Hallan Bridge while drivers bid and offer them between 50 cents and one dollar to work as cotton pickers on Mississippi and Arkansas plantations, Memphis, Tennessee, October 1939." New York Public Library Digital Collections. Accessed April 23, 2025. https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47df-f988-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99

APA Format

Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Photographs and Prints Division, The New York Public Library. (1939). African American day laborers standing near and on the back of farm trucks parked on the side of a road near the Hallan Bridge while drivers bid and offer them between 50 cents and one dollar to work as cotton pickers on Mississippi and Arkansas plantations, Memphis, Tennessee, October 1939. Retrieved from https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47df-f988-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99

Wikipedia Citation

<ref name=NYPL>{{cite web | url=https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47df-f988-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99 | title= (still image) African American day laborers standing near and on the back of farm trucks parked on the side of a road near the Hallan Bridge while drivers bid and offer them between 50 cents and one dollar to work as cotton pickers on Mississippi and Arkansas plantations, Memphis, Tennessee, October 1939., (1939)|author=Digital Collections, The New York Public Library |accessdate=April 23, 2025 |publisher=The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox, and Tilden Foundations}}</ref>

African American day laborers standing near and on the back of farm trucks parked on the side of a road near the Hallan Bridge while drivers bid and offer them between 50 cents and one dollar to work as cotton pickers on Mississippi and Arkansas plantations, Memphis, Tennessee, October 1939.