In June of 1936, Walker Evans traveled to Alabama with writer James Agee on assignment for Fortune magazine to produce a new installment in a series of articles on the Depression and its effect on average Americans. While Fortune declined to print their article, Agee and Evans continued the project, ultimately publishing the book Let Us Now Praise Famous Men in which Evans’s rigorously composed photographs prefaced Agee’s highly innovative text.
In Alabama, Agee and Evans befriended three families of farmers in Hale County: the Fields, the Tingles, and the Burroughs, shown here. Having gained their trust, the writer and photographer embedded themselves in the lives of these families, sharing their day-to-day experiences, and even lodging with the Burroughs in their rented shack for a number of weeks. Thus immersed, Evans made photographs that were intimate depictions of the families, their homes, and their way of life. In Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, Agee notes that the Burroughs’ home, despite appearances, was only eight years old when this picture was made. In addition to farmland and housing, Floyd Burroughs also leased farm equipment and, as payment, surrendered half his harvest to his landlord. He regularly ended the year in debt. Evans’s group portrait nonetheless portrays the Burroughs’ family pride and resilience in the face of profound privation.
