Compare the arguments in the 1930s and in the 1990s regarding welfare and self-esteem. She was a staunch defender of the programs in the face of strong criticisms. New York City: Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc., 1994. They wanted black American women to be available to work as maids and cooks in white people's homes for low wages. In April 1939 the Dies Committee ordered the investigation of all Federal One projects and placed Representative Clifton Woodrum in charge of the committee. 2023, A&E Television Networks, LLC. Would creativity be constrained? The Committee charged that the Federal One projects were radicalizing America. The WPA artist, in rendering his own impression of things, speaks also for the spirit of his fellow countrymen everywhere. The idea of unionizing American workers was gaining acceptance in some areas. He believed direct relief to be debilitating and demoralizing. Much of the art, especially the many murals from the Federal Art Project, are still adorning public buildings around the United States. President Herbert Hoover (served 19291933) appointed her to the White House Conference on Child Health in 1930. As weapons production for World War II began ramping up and unemployment dropped, the federal government decided a national relief program was no longer needed. 392394). The largest number of people in WPA was employed in engineering and construction projects where most of the money from the WPA was directed. The HRS was extraordinarily prolific, preparing bibliographies of American history and literature, an atlas of congressional roll-call votes, an index to unnumbered executive orders, and a list of the collection of presidential papers. The Narratives document their experiences as slaves, their recollections of the stories about their history as told to them by their ancestors, and their memories of newly won freedom. Historians generally think of the New Deal as having two parts: the first part dedicated to bringing broad strokes of immediate relief to the devastating issues plaguing America; the second part putting strategies in place for the reshaping of public policy in America. It remained under WPA jurisdiction until 1939, then the Federal Security Agency became its home until September 1943, when it dissolved. An Ornery Bunch: Tales and Anecdotes Collected by the WPA Montana Writers' Project, 19351942. Luther Evans (19021981). Projects were not carefully chosen or properly supervised. Roosevelt reportedly decided on the name "Works Progress Administration," and could not be dissuaded from it, even though it did not make sense to many. They constructed or repaired 110,000 public libraries, schools, auditoriums, stadiums, and other public buildings. While the FTP had regional groups and tour groups that played widely, the center for theater was New York, and it was in New York that the FTP was most innovative. The WPA provided work relief for millions of people during a challenging time in American history of the Great Depression. This included the compilation of the Index of American Design that documented American art, painting, sculpture, and folk art. I've lived in Berkeley, in the San Francisco Bay Area, since 1988, and have been puzzled for a long time by the steadily declining quality of life that's accompanied the domination o. In addition to Pollock, the WPA employed a number of other abstract and experimental artists that would go on to form the New York School, an avant-garde art movement of the 1950s and 1960s. Young people who were out of school could work 70 hours a month for no more than $25 a month. 13. At the final production of the long-running Pinocchio in New York the cast and crew changed the ending: Pinocchio died and his casket read: "Born December 23, 1938; Killed by Act of Congress, June 30, 1939.". When the Roosevelt Administration created the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1935 it was Called the American Guide Series, many of the volumes are available in re-prints, and remained a valuable guide to important sites within the United States decades later. Victor Arnautoff's "City Life" in San Francisco's Coit Tower is one of the best examples. WPA construction projects sometimes ran three to four times the cost of private work. Called Voodoo Macbeth, this all-black production was set in Haiti instead of Scotland and included voodoo priestesses as the three witches. Are they unemployables? At its height in late 1938, more than 3.3 million Americans worked for the WPA. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. 75 percent of the WPA workforce worked on engineering and construction projects. Work relief was heralded as a solution. But it wasn't. It was built by the PWA, the Public Works Administration. College Station, TX: Texas A&M University Press, 1998. It was one of a group of New Deal arts programs known collectively as . Then, copy and paste the text into your bibliography or works cited list. The Federal Music Project largely realized its vision, performing thousands of low-cost concerts in theaters and schools across the country, and introducing thousands of Americans to different kinds of music. A Renaissance in Harlem: Lost Essays of the WPA, by Ralph Ellison, Dorothy West, and Other Voices of a Generation. By early 1933, 25 percent of the workforce was unemployed amounting to over 12 million people. Roosevelt and Hopkins disagreed. Bindas, Kenneth J. While the Roosevelt Administration faced significant criticism and challenges regarding the WPA, and the program did not, in fact, last very long. Works Progress Administration 1935-1943 The Works Progress Administration helped many Americans to develop and cement their views about work relief. PWAP was the forerunner to Federal One, however, and reflected the belief of Roosevelt and Hopkins that even singers and dancers deserved work relief appropriate to their occupation. Women engaged in sewing projects made up about seven percent of the national WPA workforce. Flanagan, the director of Vassar College's Experimental Theatre, was recruited by Harry Hopkins to lead the Federal Theatre Project. One painter had put a plea for Puerto Rican independence in a mural in a post office building. But the public also suspects that government workers are being causal with the public's money. In 1935, Congress also passed the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act, which authorized the single largest expenditure at that time in the country's history: $4.8 billion. She was fully dedicated to building a truly national theater. Not only did many people credit the program with helping them to survive the Great Depression, but many people also highlighted that the United States was left with many buildings, art, and a richer history because of the workers of the WPA. Initially denied an education, Bethune became a proponent of the value of education in elevating black Americans. The FTP was led by Hallie Flanagan, former head of the Vassar College Experimental Theatre and former classmate of Harry Hopkins at Grinnell College. Federal One made a significant contribution to documenting a history that might otherwise have been lost. The WPA was a large and comprehensive organization. Flanagan defended her program before a Congressional Committee, but the FTP was disbanded in 1939. Regardless, the WPA was immensely important to a great many people, putting money in their pockets and hope for the future. The largest contribution of the WPA was work relief in construction and engineering projects. Marshall, Will Geer, Burt Lancaster, and John Houseman. FERA was designed after the Temporary Emergency Relief Administration that Roosevelt had set up in New York when he was governor. Harry Hopkins, top administrator of the WPA, repeatedly defended work relief to the public, revealing the deep feelings he held for the work he was doing. The WPA as a federally administered work relief program was a huge undertaking. The Committee made much of the political messages in plays by the FTP and the art of the FAP. Workers were often portrayed as lazy or inept. The controversy surrounding the FTP's productions and the WPA in general resulted in questions of Communist influence. Historic Events for Students: The Great Depression. He was going to singthe play was a musicalall the roles since the cast had been ordered not to appear on stage. These programs employed artists, musicians, actors and writers. Many of the projects completed under Federal One documented some aspect of American culture such as its folklore or its music. Hopkins, Flanagan, and Cahill in particular wanted to bring the "Arts to the Millions." Given this new outlook many in the Roosevelt Administration felt that the United States couldand had a moral obligation toprovide relief for its citizenry. Roosevelt wanted to do away with such forms of relief. 170171). Living Newspapers provided a strong example of the controversy found in the expression of ideas in theatrethose very ideas that ultimately led to the demise of the FTP. The WPA Guides: Mapping America. Kazacoff, George. These estimates are based on studies of our past experience during periods of reemployment, which indicate that the creation of two and one-half new jobs in private industry results in the removal of one family head from relief or from the W.P.A. Ellen Woodward (18??1971). ." President Roosevelt's goal was to provide employment to individuals currently on direct relief. Following a difficult childhood that led to him leave home at age of 13, Cahill moved to New York City to become a journalist. In response to the challenge to address the needs of these youth, the NYA developed a residential work program. What I need to do is to be sure that I can keep up with you in the kind of service you have been giving to this nation in the past two years. The WPA arts programs led to the later creation of the National Foundation of the Arts. Undeniably, a variety of opinions, including Communist views, were regularly being expressed in America in the 1930s. As the administrators studied the situation of Depression-era youth, however, they determined that many had dropped out of school, often before completing the eighth grade. Although critics called the WPA an extension of the dole or a device for creating a huge patronage army loyal to the Democratic Party, the stated purpose of the program was to provide useful work for millions of victims of the Great Depression and thus to preserve their skills and self-respect. The Lasting Values of the WPA: The Social Welfare History Project, Virginia Commonwealth University Libraries. Communists also believed that a fundamental change in the ownership of business and wealth was both desirable and inevitable. Part of this had to do with segregation requirements. The conservatives believed that not only was this unfair, but by taxing the people we were depending on to expand their business though investment, new economic growth was being deterred. Having grown up in Washington, DC, Woodward developed an interest in public affairs. The country was increasingly poor and frightened. Cahill was born in St. Paul, Minnesota. She started regional theatre groups all over the United The Federal Music Project (FMP) was the least controversial of the Federal One projects. The Dies Committee placed Representative Clifton Woodrum in charge of the investigation. Over its eight years of existence, the WPA put roughly 8.5 million Americans to work building schools, hospitals, roads and other public works. To blame the WPA for a shortage of labor is to charge that the tail is wagging the dog. school. Artists created motivational posters and painted murals of U.S. national parks and American scenes in public buildings. February 2000, v. 34:17. Liberals felt that the low wages were unacceptable. Watkins, T.H. The convergence of the devastation of the Great Depression and the mastery and vision of President Roosevelt combined to create a situation where the federal government temporarily employed millions of workers as a form of relief. In comparison Adolph Hitler was Chancellor of Germany and beginning his rise in Europe. Hopkins was a proponent of work relief and the potential of the government to improve people's lives. Before his art could earn him income, American painter Jackson Pollock worked for the WPAs Federal Arts Project, a component of Federal One. The WPA workers completed projects in almost every county in the United States. To that end they were proponents of eliminating the means test for qualifying for work relief. The concepts of work and welfare and the varying views of the appropriate (and inappropriate) role of the federal government were largely established during this time. The following quote is from a press conference in the summer of 1935 soon after the program had begun (as quoted in Charles, p. 131). Here, to Mount Hood, will come thousands and thousands of visitors in the coming years . When FDR took office in 1933, he promised a New Deal for everyone. Of all of President Roosevelt's New Deal programs, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) is the most famous, because it affected so many people's lives . Ellen Woodward, who headed the Women's Division of the FERA and the CWA and later the Women's Division of the WPA, proposed 250 job categories appropriate for women. On May 6, 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs an executive order creating the Works Progress Administration (WPA). It was Olive Stanton, the actress who was to sing the opening song. In addition the WPA supervised the National Youth Administration, which provided education and training and employment to students and young people. WPA workers built or repaired 1.2 million miles of culverts and laid 24,000 miles of sidewalks. The astonishing thing is that so little trace of lost morale can be found in the records. Many of the FTP productions were similarly criticized. Melosh, Barbara. The youth would clean, cook, and study and work. Is it true that WPA workers cling to their soft snap and refuse to take jobs in private employment? The WPA did not escape criticism from almost every group in America. ." This sometimes caused the perception that the WPA workers were not doing useful work. 59 views, 0 likes, 0 loves, 2 comments, 0 shares, Facebook Watch Videos from City of Spencer, Iowa: Spencer City Council Meeting from Council Chambers The Federal Writers' Project and the Federal Theatre Project were of particular interest. Headed by Harry Hopkins, the WPA provided jobs and income to the unemployed during the Great Depression in the United States. In addition all WPA workers on the payroll for more than 18 months were to be dismissed and all future WPA workers had to sign a loyalty oath asserting support of the U.S. government. They also wanted the common art of the people to gain new respect. Initially, the NYA provided part-time employment opportunities to youth who were still in In January 1937 Harry Hopkins provided testimony before a congressional committee. outermost parts of our Nation, travelers from the Middle Wet, the South and the East, Americans who are fulfilling a very desirable objective of citizenshipgetting to know their country better. The 1920s also saw dramatic growth in the amount and diversity of art and music throughout the United States and the world. June's National Industrial Recovery Act guaranteed that workers would have the right to unionize and bargain collectively for higher wages and better working conditions; it also suspended some. It takes up some of the slack between private jobs and supplies workers, through the U.S. Employment Service, whenever they can be employed in industry or agriculture . They placed special emphasis on the Federal Writers' Project and the Federal Theatre Project. "Legacies of the New Deal," in The Chronicle of Higher Education. Their writing from the FWP is still available and provides insightful portraits of life in the 1930s. One of the most popular productions was the Negro Unit's production of Shakespeare's Macbeth, directed by Orson Welles. A month after taking office, the Roosevelt Administration launched the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). 12 Apr. (6) Works Progress Administration, Analysis of Civil Works Program Statistics, Washington, DC, 1939, pp. Only 25 per cent were rated unemployable, the principal reasons for this being old age and poor health. Following World War II Williams continued working against racial discrimination in the South for the next 20 years. Discuss the pros and cons involved in government-sponsored art. Would all the art be propaganda? The testimony represented a fairly thorough assessment of the program after almost two years of operation by its top administrator (as quoted in Charles, pp. Concerns regarding the unemployed youth were not unfounded, as young people on school campuses and elsewhere were joining the Young Communist League and other leftist organizations. States, performing both classic productions and original plays for thousands of Americans. The Great Depression had been steadily worsening for over three years by Roosevelt's inauguration. Everyone could enjoy opera and vaudeville; fiddle playing and contemporary art. Like the others the WPA was created to provide work relief for the unemployed. The Works Progress Administration established a number of projects to provide work relief to artists, musicians, writers, and actors. But it also considered The Federal Project Number One. Jacksonville, MS: University Press of Mississippi, 1999. Baker, T. Lindsay and Julie P. Baker, eds. Highway workers are often deplored as wasting time and prolonging projectsnot unlike the criticisms of the WPA workers digging a hole just to fill it. The debate over the worthiness of spending public funds on work relief was non-ending. Most former slaves were old and most of their individual stories would not have been preserved if not for the efforts of the WPA writers. This mural in San Francisco's Coit Tower was supported by the Works Progress Adminsitration. The unemployment rate in 1935 was at a staggering 20 percent. Federal One also established more than 100 community art centers throughout the country. In 1943, with the virtual elimination of unemployment by a wartime economy, the WPA was terminated. Almost one-third of those funds were invested in a new relief agency, the Works Progress Administration (WPA). At the same time, working conditions for many Americans were increasingly hazardous. Much of the "Art for the Millions" was designed to show normal people in normal activities. Mitchell believed that the low wages of the WPA represented a surrender of the U.S. Government to big business. The WPA shut down in June of 1943. To that end, wages were intentionally kept significantly below positions in the private sector. Many of the states were too impoverished to address the poverty of their own people. He characterized federal relief as addictive and a destroyer of the human spirit. De Hart, Jane. The employment schedule, involving a reduction of 600,000 workers between February and June, anticipates a large and widespread increase in private employment over the period. Parrish, Michael E. Anxious Decades: America in Prosperity and Depression 19201941. Later it added the one-act play unit, dance theatre, the Theater for the Blind, marionette theatre, a Yiddish vaudeville unit, a German unit, an Anglo-Jewish theater, and the Radio Division, among other groups. The Cradle Will Rock became a triumph and played to acclaim all over the country. America The Story of Us is an epic 12-hour television event that tells the extraordinary story of how America was invented. The workers at HRS undertook a huge effort to compile and analyze the inventories of state and county records. Among them, all of those visitors, in winter and summer, spring and autumn, there will be many from the Headed by Harry Hopkins, the WPA provided jobs and income to the unemployed during the Great Depression in the United States. Helena, MT: Falcon Publishing, Inc., 1999. New York City: Routledge, Chapman & Hall, Inc., 1986. That the plea was written in Icelandic did not deter the horror at the inclusion of a political message in a work of art. Many women on relief did not have a work history and were not, therefore, considered part of the labor force. Apparently the people who have borne the burnt of the long depression have kept the desire to work to get back on their feet. They installed 23,000 miles of storm and sanitary sewers and constructed 880 sewage disposal plants. Construction included more than five hundred municipal water systems, almost three hundred hospitals, and more than five hundred schools. In the trauma of the Great Depression, demonstrations and rebellions were increasingly common. Oklahoma City, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1996. Employing almost seven thousand writers, researchers, and librarians in its peak year of 1936, the FWP sought to document many aspects of American life. It was with this belief in the universal importance of art and music that programs such as the WPA's cultural programs for artists, musicians, writers, and actors would take root. Aubrey Williams (18901965). WPA arts programs drew frequent criticism from Congress and the lay public. The FWP writers prepared a complete set of The production had been cancelled and the unions had decreed that no actor could appear on stage. Many conservatives also felt that the WPA, and in particular Federal One, was promoting liberal or even communist views. It was part of his New Deal plan to lift the country out of the Great Depression by reforming the financial system and restoring the economy to pre-Depression levels. The experience of the depression has proved that the American people still want jobs. While many of the conservatives were sympathetic to the poverty and hunger around them, they felt that the economy would eventually improve on its own leading to greater employment. We are just agents of America, doing a job, and in a crisis like thisbecause when we have ten or eleven million people out of work don't let anybody tell you this isn't still a crisiswe have been given the greatest opportunity to serve not only the people but the nation, that we will every have again in our lives. Businesses including banks closed. Dies and Thomas believed that the projects were subversive. The administrators of the WPA were responsible for the inappropriate allocations. Many of the discussions about government-sponsored art are still held today, as controversial artists receive government grants, or have government grants repealed. Refer to each styles convention regarding the best way to format page numbers and retrieval dates. The WPA avoided cost-saving technologies and machinery in order to hire more workers. One of the most powerful collections compiled by the FWP writers is that of the Slave Narratives consisting of more than two thousand oral histories from black Americans who had formerly been slaves. Businesses and banks had closed, production and sales of goods and services had been severely reduced. President Roosevelt's works progress administration of 1935 considered many infrastructure programs for the benefit of the U.S. citizens. A significant number had become homeless and hoboes. A major concern regarding "the dole" in the 1930s was the impact on the self-esteem of the recipients. In 1922 Williams became executive secretary of the Wisconsin Conference of Social Work. Despite contrary evidence, public workers were often criticized for being overpaid and lazy. The Works Progress Administration (WPA) was an ambitious employment and infrastructure program created by President Franklin Roosevelt in 1935, during the bleakest days of the Great Depression. Therefore, its best to use Encyclopedia.com citations as a starting point before checking the style against your school or publications requirements and the most-recent information available at these sites: http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html. Federal Theatre Project. ." Roosevelt, Franklin D. The Public Papers and Addresses of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Hiller, Megan (Ed.). The vast majority still believe in work. HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. At a time when millions of Americans were without jobs because of the Great Depression, the WPA provided jobs and the wages that come with jobs. Roosevelt appointed Harry Hopkins, his trusted advisor and head of the FERA and the CWA to lead the WPA. The Works Progress Administration (WPA). New York: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1988. The cultural programs of Federal One were designed to address this gap. The early 1930s were a tumultuous time. The architecture of many U.S. buildings constructed as part of Great Depression relief projects is often referred to as PWA Moderne (for Public Works Administration, another New Deal program) or Depression Moderne. The style blended neoclassical and Art Deco elements. It created unneccessary projects just to employ people. However, the Works Progress Administration's was highly criticized for its creation of artistic and infrastructure jobs because people felt the program gave too much power to the . When Roosevelt became president he recruited Hopkins to implement his various social welfare programs including from 1935 to 1938 the Works Progress Administration. 170174. There was a sense among many citizens that American minds can fix any problem, including economic problems. The proud people who did everything they could to avoid direct relief sometimes were not eligible to be hired by the WPA. What if the government-sponsored art was bad art? Related Articles: Navigating the National . America had emerged from World War I (19141918) with strength and a world mission. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1996. 170174). With this amount it would be possible to employ 2,200,000 on Works Progress Administration projects in February; 2,150,000 in March; 2,000,000 in April; 1,800,000 in May; and 1,600,000 in June. The New Deal, including the WPA, resonated throughout U.S. society ever since the Great Depression. The New Deal: America's Response to the Great Depression. Residential program participants would stay in the centers, learn a trade, and then return home only to discover again that there were no jobs. Under Nikolai Sokoloff, the FMP employed 15,000 out-of-work musicians. Many writers who were employed by the Federal Writers' Project would go on to become famous including Ralph Ellison, John Cheever, Conrad Aiken, Richard Wright, Saul Bellow, Studs Terkel, Dorothy West, and Zora Neale Hurston. The specific characteristics of the WPA, however, particularly its specific inclusion of artists and actors, grew out of the 1920s. Most workers had no insurance. Only forty-two of these refusals, or less than 1 per cent, were found to be real cases of an individual's not wanting to work . Omissions? Toward the end of the 1930s the incredible support for New Deal programs enjoyed by the Roosevelt Administration from the U.S. Congress to combat the Great Depression was clearly waning. Bethune led the NYA Division of Negro Affairs. The play, to be a production of the Federal Theatre Project, was a celebration of the triumph of labor unions. In 1931 New York Governor Roosevelt appointed the former social worker as the executive director of the New York State Temporary Emergency Relief Administration. . . The Hungry Years: A Narrative History of the Great Depression in America. Hopkins was an advocate of relief programs that provided work for the unemployed and trained the unskilled. 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