The mural in the Linden Post Office entitled The Cotton Pickers is a haunting picture of a time gone by, because if you've ever heard stories from people who picked cotton, you know it was a grueling task. The majority of cotton pickers in the South were African-Americans who were poverty-stricken folks who did back-breaking work for pennies an hour during this era. They weren't slaves any longer but living in the South before the Civil Rights Movement wasn't far from slavery. In the far background is the landowner's mansion shaded by a cluster of trees and nearby, in stark contrast, sits the shanty of a fieldhand's quarters with a barren, leafless tree.
Not all cotton picking was done by blacks. Poor white folks, as well as children, worked as pickers. My dad had seven younger sisters, the oldest having been born in 1917, and most of them only went to school up to the middle grades and then worked in the fields to help feed the family. The girls had the reputation of being able to pick as much cotton in one day than any of the tough men pickers in the county. The cotton sacks they pulled along as they bent over the cotton plants pulling the fibrous bolls from the plants held 100 pounds of cotton.
Despite all the flaws expressed about our culture I love this mural and find that it is spot-on representative of agriculture in this era of the Great Depression here in the South. I love the muted colors, and the flowing nature of the cotton sacks lend to the impression of the toil endured by these people as they go about their work.
This mural was painted by Victor Arnautoff of San Francisco, a native of Ukraine who migrated to this country. Another of his murals is located in Coit Tower in San Francisco. He informed the agency after he painted another Post Office mural in Texas that he was very discouraged because after he paid his bills connected with the project he was left with $10. Some people have commented in former posts that the amount paid the artists was a generous sum. Please don't fail to recognize that these murals may have taken several months to complete and very possibly it was the only commission or work they received during that period of time. Arnautoff received $670 for this mural. He later returned to Russia after the death of his wife and died in 1979 in Leningrad.
Linden is the county seat of Cass County and is located 157 miles east of Dallas and 97 miles north of where I live near the Louisiana border in Deep East Texas.
9 comments:
It's a super mural showing what picking cotton was really like way back when.
A wonderful mural showing how it was in that time. My husband picked cotton one summer when he was in high school in Phoenix. He said it was back breaking work. There was a wonderful older black woman who took pity on him and took him under her wing and taught him the ins and outs of the job. He said he would never have made much money that summer if she hadn't helped him. The cotton picking machine would go through first and then they would go into the field to get what the machine missed.
Great post, Kathy.
That mural is very impactful. It almost made me cringe when I first saw it. Your comments brought to mind all the depression era stories that my dad told me. Of course, not of them were as bad as what these people had to endure. It's a beautiful mural and an important piece of history. The artist's story is also very touching.
I like the mural as a painting and as a reminder of what was and never should be again... i have never seen the long bags like that but it makes a lot of sense they would be. i can tell you cotton fields rip your clothes and arms and legs and fingers
truly is a historical one.
It's lovely.
It is a beautiful mural. I found the history of cotton picking quite interesting.
It's a wonderful mural, if a sad subject. I'm glad you mentioned that poor whites also picked cotton before and during the Depression. My Mom remembers her family all working in the cotton fields.
This is an emotionally strong mural made very special by your comments. Our society has changed so much that our fast paced life needs reminds of the incidents and work of the past. Great job, Kathy!
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