Florence Owens Thompson and Sharbat Gula: Profiles in Courage

By Linda Harris Sittig

Florence Thompson image from New York Public Library. Photographer: Dorothea Lange

Sharbat Gula image from Global Student Square. Photographer: Steve McCurry

You may not recognize their names, but their photos were two of the most famous published in the twentieth century.

The two women hailed from different continents, different ethnic backgrounds, and varied in time 50 years apart: yet, as refugees, their courage and perseverance bind them to each other.

Depression Era photographer Dorothea Lange took Florence’s picture (on left) and published it in 1936 in a San Francisco area newspaper. Ms. Lange had taken the photo in a pea-pickers camp in California and wanted to show the plight of the out-of-work, impoverished migrant workers.

In the iconic photo, Florence is 33 years old, although she appears to be much older. Perhaps the acute anxiety etched on her face shows how a human can age before their time when living in extreme poverty.

In 1984, photographer Steve McCurry took Sharbat’s photo (on right) on an assignment to document the plight of Afghan people living in Pakistan refugee camps after fleeing their homeland in the early 1980s. The photo was chosen as a National Geographic cover for their magazine, thus allowing the world to see young Sharbat.

Sharbat was an orphan, approximately 12 years old in her famous photo, although she, too, appears to be older.

Florence was a full-blooded Cherokee from Oklahoma who left the Dust Bowl disaster of the 1920s with her husband and children in tow and made their way west to California, picking crops for pennies a day.

Sharbat fled from Afghanistan during the Soviet-Afghan War of guerilla fighting lasting nine years from 1980 – 1989. Since Sharbat was born in 1973, she spent a significant amount of her young life living as a refugee.

Florence fled to escape the ravages of the Oklahoma Dust Bowl, and Sharbat fled her home to escape the ravages of war-torn Afghanistan.

Like all refugees, Florence and Sharbat fled with only the possessions they could carry and left behind the once stable life they knew. And also, like all refugees, every day was a day of questions: would there be enough food, would they be safe in this location, and what would the future bring?

Florence was photographed with three of her children, although she had a total of six. Sharbat was photographed as a 12-year-old girl, although she would eventually grow up, marry, raise four children and return to Afghanistan.

Education was scarce for both Florence and Sharbat, yet both women have left an indelible mark on history. Why?

Because when one looks at their photos, what immediately strikes the viewer is the haunting image of resilience.

Both women, in tattered clothes, have the worn look of adversity tinged with courage. Although there is no quoted caption, both women could be saying, “Yes, I am afraid for myself, but I will survive.”

Both Florence and Sharbat did indeed survive economic poverty, health issues, and uncertain futures.

Florence died at age 80, and as of this writing, Sharbat is still alive.

What both women gave unconsciously to the world was an image of undeniable strength, courage in the face of adversity, and a will that carried them beyond the history of the harrowing experiences thrust upon them.

They are a salute to refugees everywhere.

Two Strong Women.

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You can also catch me on Twitter @LHsittig, or my web page LINDASITTIG.COM, or find my books in stand-alone bookstores and on Amazon. CUT FROM STRONG CLOTH, LAST CURTAIN CALL, COUNTING CROWS, and B-52 DOWN!

~ linda:)