In the years leading up to the 1930s, photographs of the people and places of the Plains reflected our aspirations and boosted our confidence. Everything was new and possible.
But dust, the great equalizer, rolled in by the middle ’30s and clouded the lens through which we viewed our success. When government photographers showed up to document this new reality, their images scratched the veneer of our invincibility and found us looking quite vulnerable at times.
One of the most unsettling photographs from that era shows a woman crossing a central Amarillo street in April 1936 as a dust-choked wind attempts to indecently rearrange the thin skirt clinging to her backside. This unidentified Amarillo lady likely started the day with an extra hat pin, fully intending to defy the wind as plainswomen are wont to do. As she made a break for the opposite curb that day, a 20-year-old government photographer named Arthur Rothstein stepped outside and snapped a photo of her mad dash. Anyone who grew up around here can almost feel the wind just by looking at the image he captured…