Poverty in Rural America
Poverty in Rural America is a short film from 1965 released on 16mm. It is held in the Prelinger Archives collection.
16:00:57:18 MS poor young boy about 4 years old in deep sleep lying on his back, arms spread out, wearing a very dirty shirt perhaps even blood stained; audio track guitar and female vocals Hush little baby now don t you cry you know your papa was going to die ; MS frightened little boy 3 to 4 years old clinging to man s leg; CU African-American boy with pensive look biting fingernails; CU sad face of boy hiding behind metal bedpost; CU poor rural Black boy with sad face leans against wood post and looks into camera; CU young woman with thick dark hair looks off into space with look of sad contemplation; CU cute baby boy about 1 year old gives strained smile; small Black baby on hands and knees looking off into distance as though in deep contemplation; CU two poor children, siblings, boy and girl, about 4 years old with dirty faces; VS poor rural children.
16:02:01:22 CU man chopping wood.
16:02:18:24 VS CU poor rural men each identified by race then trade; audio track Whites, Negroes, American Indians, Spanish Americans, farmers, ex-farmers, handymen, former coal miners.
16:02:26:15 Poor rural Black child about 8 years old wearing overalls leaning against porch of rundown log cabin.
16:02:42:23 VS inside poor rural schoolhouse; student about 16 writes at desk; high-angle boy about 10 reads in book.
16:02:51:24 Old man walks on dirt road across frame passes a crumbled brick building with no roof or doors.
16:03:00:05 VS man crosses rickety bridge over stream walking with cane and smoking a pipe.
16:03:07:02 Poor old rural man with hands in pockets stares into camera with defeated look in eyes; CU man s weathered face.
16:03:12:01 Interview with poor rural man with heavy accent; good sound bites such as got no education .
16:03:19:21 VS poor rural Black family with three boys seated on porch of house; two eldest boys between ages of 9 and 14 are very obese.
16:03:51:17 VS in poor rural classroom; young boy behind open book on desk; boys and girls seated at antique desks with ornate metalwork, writing in notebooks.
16:04:03:03 Series of CU portraits of poor rural mothers and women.
16:04:09:21 Poor rural man with tanned skin, scruffy face and salt and pepper hair, looks out of place seated at desk in office across from urban man in suit; rural man resting his hands on the desk nervously taps his fingers.
16:04:19:20 VS rural man enters room in house with log; CU man places log in antique Franklin furnace.
16:04:58:21 VS CU farmer between 50 and 60 years old; MS interview with farmer, good sound bites: I ve done no other work than farming, I ve been here all my life. I sure would like to stay here.
16:06:05:14 VS abandoned family farm; decrepit farmhouse; CU rusted oil lamp on porch; pan over farm; large tractor parked in field.
16:09:03:05 CU interview with farmer who speaks with foreign accent; good sound bite without water we cannot do anything.
16:09:11:06 VS partially washed away brush dam built by farmers; pan down stream to small modern dam, MS farmer standing in front of dam That dam you see behind us now, is the most important thing for the people in this community we made it with our own hands, the people are very proud
16:10:01:29 VS poor rural children in front of school house; children playing game in a circle singing song in front of rural school house; rural kids play baseball in front of rickety school house.
16:11:09:20 Rural Black teenagers in lunch line at school cafeteria; VS kids eating lunch.
16:11:59:19 Woman interviewed seated in chair with arms cross in front of kindergarten classroom; little girl drawing with crayons at day care center.
16:12:48:01 African-American day care center classroom with young boy and girls reading children s books; VS kids between ages of 3 and 6, teachers seated on desk interviewed.
16:13:43:25 CU obese woman with curlers in her hair interviewed, camera pans out to show woman peeling potatoes into bowl.
16:15:09:05 Teenagers seated at desks in classroom, young female teacher at blackboard holding piece of chalk. VS CU teenage students, boy and girls, in class watching teacher.
16:16:39:19 Sequence of MS interview clips with poor rural men and women, sound bites rural folk saying that all they want is to work and be able to help themselves.
16:16:54:12 VS people working in Sequoia Carpet Mill; man in suit interviewed in carpet mill; VS Native American man working in carpet mill; CU spools of yarn being spooled; workers interviewed; men at work on machine producing large carpet.
16:19:52:05 Great moving VS from car of poor rural houses along side of road; clothes on clothesline blowing in the wind.
16:23:11:25 VS poor rural Native American men and women.
12:23:57:13 VS town hall type meeting in Washington County in rural Virginia; VS faces and back of audience, two speakers lead meeting with American flag on wall behind them.
16:24:08:14 Children playing on swings standing on swing seats; boys playing baseball; VS CU audience of town hall meeting.
16:25:39:09 CU machine with large scope monitor divided into fourths by an X and Y-axis and a row of three knobs on both side of the scope; small sine wave ripples on the screen. 16:26:05:27 CU disembodied hands of two men hold poster with illustrated alphabet.
16:28:11:27 Great shot poor rural boy rolling a car tire along dirt road in front of abandoned house with boarded up doors and crumbling bricks.
16:28:19:17 5 rural children playing on tire swing, boys in jean overalls, girl in white dresses pushes two boys standing in tire holding on to rope of swing; children smiling and having good time; great shot moving camera follows smiling boys swinging on tire swing looking into camera.| Poverty in Rural America | |
|---|---|
| Produced by | U.S. Department of Agriculture |
Production company | U.S. Department of Agriculture |
| Distributed by | U.S. Department of Agriculture |
Release date | 1965 |
Running time | 28:58 |
| Language | English |
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