While traveling through Texas capturing images for his photo essay, Mydans focused not only on the free and prosperous cowboys on the range, but also on the displaced population that was still struggling to find a job amidst a national economic crisis. In the 1930s, a combination of droughts, the Depression, and the increased mechanization of farming prompted a migration of small farmers and laborers from Arkansas, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas to the western United States.
This girl's family probably traveled on its own, following the crops from one place to another, in order to make a living.