Jack Delano (born Jacob Ovcharov; 1914–1997) was a Ukrainian immigrant who became an accomplished photographer for the Works Progress Administration, United Fund, and most notably, the Farm Security Administration (FSA). He wore many hats as he also was a composer known for his use of Puerto Rican folk material, started a television production company, and was a cartoonist, poet, moviemaker, professor, and architectural designer.
By the time the United States entered WWII, Delano completed a number of photo essays on industry in America preparing for the war. He was then drafted into the Air Force and served in the South Pacific from 1943 to 1946. Throughout his time in the military he continued documenting his experience via films and photographs, many of which remain classified to this day.
Delano came home a captain and was determined to move to Puerto Rico with his wife, Irene (a second cousin to fellow photographer Ben Shahn), a land both of them had fallen in love with.
Delano took amazing photos which were colorized by Rob van den Berg that documented everyday life of the United States in the early 1940s.
Tenant farmer and part of his family in field ready for tobacco planting. Nine miles north of Danville, Pittsylvania County, Virginia, circa 1935-42
Children in Midland, Pennsylvania, January 1940
Family living in the “crackerbox” slum tenement in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, January 1940
Florida migratory farm worker, near Belcross, North Carolina, July 1940
Truck drivers shaving at truck service station on U.S. 1 (New York Avenue), Washington, D.C., June 1940
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