by Elise Hooper
Q: Why didn’t Maynard or Paul do more to help with the care of their children?
A: The expectations of the time were that women tended to children. It was that simple. Regardless of social class, it never appears to have entered into people’s consideration that men could have played a hands-on role with raising their sons and daughters. And this trickled down to the children of this generation. Interviews with Dan Dixon when he was an adult reflect that his hurt feelings were aimed mostly at his mother. He never seemed to hold Maynard accountable in the same way that he blamed his mother for leaving him.
Q: What happened to Dorothea’s two closest friends?
A: Fronsie’s life is mostly fictionalized in this novel. After she helped to settle Dorothea in the photography studio on Sutter Street, she mostly disappears from Lange’s biographies with the exception of reappearing as a guest at Dorothea’s wedding to Maynard. Based on a note by Paul Taylor in the transcript of Dorothea’s oral history with Suzanne Riess, it seems Fronsie ended up living in Los Angeles during the 1960s.
Imogen led a brilliant career as a photographer and lived until 1976, when she died at ninety-three years of age. She produced many books and mentored other photographers, and her work has been exhibited around the world.
Q: What happened to Dorothea Lange’s impounded photos of the Japanese American internment?
A: The army impounded the images until after the war and then they were quietly placed in the National Archives. In 1972, Richard Conrat, one of Lange’s assistants, published some of them when he produced Executive Order 9066 for the UCLA Asian American Studies Center. It wasn’t until 2006 when Linda Gordon and Gary Y. Okihiro published their book Impounded that the photos received widespread attention. In 2017, the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum produced an exhibit entitled Images of Internment: The Incarceration of Japanese Americans During World War II to commemorate the seventhy-fifth anniversary of FDR’s infamous Executive Order 9066. I visited the show and viewed photographs by Dorothea Lange, Ansel Adams, and others. Seventy-five years later these photos are still relevant and serve as a powerful reminder of the importance of maintaining civil liberties in our democracy.
Reading Group Guide
Dorothea Lange’s photographs are recognized by many Americans, but few know much about the woman who created the images. How did your understanding of Lange and her art change as you were reading Learning to See?
In interviews Dorothea spoke about how profoundly polio changed her. During the course of her life, she viewed her right foot as both a curse and a gift. Discuss how you see her disability shaping her relationships, her career, and her view of the world.
During the early 1900s, laws to ensure safety, education, health, and care for children were still evolving into the many protections that exist now. Dorothea’s decision to foster her children out to another family during the 1930s often stuns people today. It also caused a long-standing rift between her and Dan and John. Discuss her reasons for making this choice. Do you empathize with Dorothea’s actions? How do you feel about Dan’s reactions?
People who knew Dorothea well often describe her as difficult and controlling. Do you think that this is merited or an unfair characterization? What adjectives would you use to describe her?
Dorothea Lange was a trailblazing woman artist at a time when the art world was dominated by men. How did she navigate the complexities of these relationships and build a successful career? Are these challenges still relevant today?
Dorothea enjoys some important friendships with other women over the course of her life, including Fronsie Ahlstrom, Imogen Cunningham, Consuelo Kanaga, and Frida Kahlo. Reflect on how these relationships impacted her.
Before traveling with Paul Taylor, Dorothea had almost no experience with rural life. Discuss the many ways in which her exposure to farmers and agriculture caused her views to change.
Dorothea’s relationships with Maynard and Paul reveal very different dynamics. In some ways both marriages reveal many gender role expectations of the 1920s and ’30s, and in other ways the marriages defy conventions of the time. Discuss how the men she loved shaped how she viewed herself.
When Maynard and Dorothea end their marriage, he asks her if she thinks they would have stayed together if not for the Great Depression. How did the extreme economic downturn affect their relationship? Do you think their marriage would have survived during stabler, happier times?
Many of Dorothea’s photographs are available to be viewed through the National Archives. After you spend some time looking at them, which of her photographs appeal to you the most? Why? Before reading this novel, do you think you would have selected a different one?
Dorothea Lange Photos
Commonly referred to as Migrant Mother, this photo is Lange’s most famous image. Her original caption reads: Destitute Pea Pickers in California. Mother of Seven. ca. 1936. Courtesy of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library and Museum, Hyde Park, New York
Dorothea Lange in California, February 1936. Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, FSA/OWI Collection, LC-USF34-002392-E
Often referred to as Ditched, Stalled, and Stranded, this is another one of Lange’s iconic photos of Dust Bowl migrants from 1936. The original captions reads: Once a Missouri farmer, now a migratory farm laborer on the Pacific Coast. California. Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, FSA/OWI Collection, LC-USF347-002470-E
This photo of Lange’s is not referenced in this novel, but it demonstrates Lange’s keen eye for contradictions. Towards Los Angeles, California dates from March 1937. Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, FSA/OWI Collection, LC-USF34-016317-E
This photo is not referenced directly in this novel, but reflects Lange’s ability to capture the racial and economic power dynamic between these figures through composition. Her original caption reads: Plantation overseer. Mississippi Delta, near Clarksdale, Mississippi. June 1936. Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, FSA/OWI Collection, LC-USF34-009596-C
This is one of Lange’s many portraits of migrant children. Her original caption does little to disguise her frustration with the poverty and helplessness she was witnessing. It reads: On Arizona Highway 87, south of Chandler. Maricopa County, Arizona. Children in a democracy. A migratory family living in a trailer in an open field. No sanitation, no water. They came from Amarillo, Texas. Pulled bolls near Amarillo, picked cotton near Roswell, New Mexico, and in Arizona. Plan to return to Amarillo at close of cotton picking season for work on WPA. 1940. National Archives Photo Number 83-G-44034
Dorothea’s original caption reads: San Francisco, California. Flag of allegiance pledge at Raphael Weill Public School, Geary and Buchanan Streets. Children in families of Japanese ancestry were evacuated with their parents and will be housed for the duration in War Relocation Authority centers where facilities will be provided for them to continue their education. 1940–45. National Archives Photo Number 210-G-A78
Dorothea’s original caption reads: Florin, Sacramento County, California. A soldier and his mother in a strawberry field. The soldier, age 23, volunteered July 10, 1941, and is stationed at Camp Leonard Wood, Missouri. He was furloughed to help his mother and family prepare for their evacuation. He is the youngest of six children, two of them volunteers in United States Army. The mother, age 53, came from Japan 37 years ago. Her husband died 21 years ago, leaving her to raise six children. She worked in a strawberry basket factory until last year when her children leased three acres of strawberries “so she wouldn’t have to work for somebody else.” The family is Buddhist. This is her youngest son. Her second son is in the army stationed at Fort Bliss. 453 families are to be evacuated from this area. 1942–45. National Archives Photo Number 210-G-A584
This is a portrait of Dave Tatsuno, one of Paul Taylor’s former students from the University of California, and his father in front of the department store the family owned. According to an interview Lange did with Suzanne Riess
for the Regional Oral History Office, one of Dave’s children died of exposure while the family was incarcerated in the Topaz War Relocation Center in central Utah. The original caption reads: San Francisco, California. Dave Tatsuno and his father, merchants of Japanese ancestry in San Francisco prior to evacuation. 1942–45. National Archives Photo Number 210-G-C450
Dorothea’s original caption reads: San Bruno, California. Near view of horse-stall, left from the days when what is now Tanforan Assembly center, was the famous Tanforan Race Track. Most of these stalls have been converted into family living quarters for Japanese. 1942–45. National Archives Photo Number 210-G-C630
Dorothea’s original caption reads: Manzanar Relocation Center, Manzanar, California. Street scene of barrack homes at this War Relocation Authority Center. The windstorm has subsided and the dust has settled. 1942–45. National Archives Photo Number 210-G-C840
This photo is one of a series that Lange took of women producing camouflage nets for the army. To avoid running afoul of the Geneva Convention’s laws against using prisoners of war in forced labor, the army claimed that the women were volunteers. The army also made sure these women were American citizens to avoid any conflicts over labeling the workers as POWs. Despite the army’s efforts to claim the work was legal, Lange doubted this work was truly voluntary. Her original caption reads: Manzanar Relocation Center, Manzanar, California. Making camouflage nets for the War Department. This is one of several War and Navy Department projects carried on by persons of Japanese ancestry in relocation centers. 1942–45. National Archives Photo Number 210-G-C815
Praise for The Other Alcott
“[May Alcott’s] adventures illuminate the world of intrepid female artists in the late 1800s, a milieu too little appreciated today. The Other Alcott comes alive in its development of the relationship between Louisa and May.”
—The New York Times Sunday Book Review
“Hooper is especially good at depicting the complicated blend of devotion and jealousy so common among siblings. . . . A lively, entertaining read.”
—Stephanie Garber, New York Times bestselling author of Caraval and Legendary
“A fascinating concept, and just the way to kick off your celebration of the 150th anniversary of the publication of Little Women.”
—Historical Novel Society
“This title is not to be missed by the classic’s many fans, who will want to get an insider’s look at the real people who inspired the March family.”
—Library Journal
“If you loved Little Women (or even if you didn’t), this engaging take on the real-life relationship between the Alcott sisters will fascinate and inspire. More than ever, we need books like this—in celebration of a woman overlooked by history, one whose story helps shed light on our own contemporary search for love, identity, and meaning.”
—Tara Conklin, New York Times bestselling author of The House Girl
Also by Elise Hooper
The Other Alcott
Copyright
This book is a work of fiction. References to real people, events, establishments, organizations, or locales are intended only to provide a sense of authenticity, and are used fictitiously. All other characters, and all incidents and dialogue, are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real.
P.S.™ is a trademark of HarperCollins Publishers.
LEARNING TO SEE. Copyright © 2019 by Elise Hooper. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
Cover photograph: A67.137.94015, Paul S. Taylor, Dorothea Lange, circa 1937. © the Dorothea Lange Collection, the Oakland Museum of California. Gift of Paul S. Taylor.
Title page photo © National Archives Catalogue
FIRST EDITION
Digital Edition JANUARY 2019 ISBN: 978-0-06-268654-1
Version 12152018
Print ISBN: 978-0-06-268653-4
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