June in January, Miami Beach
In 1939, Marion Post Wolcott traveled to Florida to cover the winter harvest. While she photographed the migrant workers coming down, she kept noting the contrast between the workers coming in and the wealthy who fled winter for seaside towns. Because the harvest was delayed a few days, she decided to go to Miami, writing: “Decided to stay in Miami for Sunday—take a swim, lie in the sun and sand for an hour or so, and photograph the tourists and idle rich at play.”
While there, she photographed a range of leisure time—sunbathing, drinking, and horse racing—marveling at the difference between Americans suffering through the Depression and these Americans without a care in the world. Though she conceived a documentary series to explore this idea further, she eventually became so devoted to covering the political angles of poverty in the Depression that she did not return to it. This image from Miami Beach is one of less than 100 from the series, initially titled “Gold Avenue”.
