How did the Great Depression help street photography develop in the United States?

The Great Depression was a pivotal era for the development of street photography in the United States, as it helped the genre emerge as a distinct subgenre of documentary photography.1

During this period, photography gained significant prominence in books, magazines, newspapers, and exhibitions. Photographers such as Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange, and Berenice Abbott began defining the potential of the medium by documenting the American experience amidst economic struggle, industrial growth, and modernization.1

The federal government also played a major role by underwriting large-scale documentary projects, most notably through the Farm Security Administration (FSA). These initiatives aimed to record the effects of the economic downturn and agricultural displacement, while simultaneously seeking to foster public compassion to support legislative action. Additionally, urban projects like Abbott’s Changing New York and the work of the Photo League further solidified the practice of taking to the streets to capture the realities of contemporary life. This era established a foundation of social documentation that paved the way for the more personal and subjective street photography that flourished in the postwar period.213