20 ways that West Virginia is a public health, healthcare, and human rights disaster area

Above: The description for this photograph, taken in Milton, West Virginia, July 6, 1938, reads: "Morris Memorial Hospital for Crippled Children. Children are being shown given therapeutic treatment for infantile paralysis. This pool and hospital were built by WPA labor." The New Deal greatly improved public health and healthcare in West Virginia, with more facilities; more nurses; health clinics; immunizations; recreation projects for both physical fitness and mental well-being; better drinking water and better sewage treatment; etc. As you will see below, West Virginia desperately needs another New Deal. Photo from the National Archives.

West Virginia's Public Health and Healthcare Today: Welcome to Hell on Earth

West Virginia's public health is like something out of a nightmare. Here are 20 reasons why:

1. Worst Overall Health in the Nation

"West Virginia ranks dead last in national health study—here’s how Virginia compares," WVVA (Channel 6, Bluefield, West Virginia), January 20, 2026. 

2. Unaffordable Health Insurance

"West Virginia ranks among least affordable states for health insurance," WCHS-TV (ABC and Fox, Charleston, West Virginia), July 16, 2026.

3. Substandard Healthcare

"West Virginia ranked 47th in U.S. for worst healthcare," WTRF-TV (Channel 7 News, Wheeling, West Virginia), July 27, 2026.

4. Too Many Premature Deaths

"West Virginia ranks 49th in the nation for premature deaths, meaning more people die before the age of 75 than in almost every other state" (The Center of Rural Health Development, accessed August 8, 2026, emphasis added).

5. Poor Quality Nursing Homes

"The 2022 Nursing Home Report by Nice Rx has been released and says that less than 3% of West Virginia’s nursing homes are top-rated... West Virginia has 123 total nursing homes, and U.S. News reported that only three... had a five out of five rating. Each of these nursing homes have fewer than 35 beds... U.S. News also reported that 35 of West Virginia’s nursing homes are considered worse than average and seven are being monitored by Medicare due to a history of low quality care" (12 WBOY News (NBC and ABC), August 24, 2022, emphasis added). 

Nursing home violations in West Virginia include: "failure to provide proper medical treatment... untreated bedsores... failure to respond to medical emergencies... multiple instances of elder abuse... missing money and personal belongings from nursing home residents... severe medication mismanagement, understaffing, and unsanitary conditions... dismissive staff responses to safety concerns... residents suffering from severe malnutrition and dehydration... patients left in soiled bedding for extended periods... residents were left without proper mobility assistance, leading to falls and serious injuries... nursing home residents were found suffering from untreated bedsores and infections... lack of proper dementia care" (Nursing Home Law Center LLC, using state and federal reports, March 5, 2025).

6. Little or No Support for Family Caregivers

"... [family] caregivers spend an average of $7,200 out of pocket each year, creating significant financial, emotional and physical strain,” Tom Hunter, associate state director of the AARP-WV, said in an email" (Mountain State Spotlight, January 22, 2026). A bill to give family caregivers a tax credit has stalled in the West Virginia legislature; meanwhile, "In 2026, West Virginia’s richest five percent of households will receive $1.2 billion from tax cuts enacted over the last decade" (West Virginia Center on Budget & Policy, December 27, 2025). 

7. Filthy Drinking Water 

"West Virginia was the state with the highest levels of violations and contaminants in its drinking water systems, according to the Afina study, which reviewed data from various EPA sources." (Newsweek, January 27, 2026, emphasis added).

8. Obesity and Diabetes

"New Report: W.Va. Remains Most Overweight State" (West Virginia Public Broadcasting, October 16, 2025). And this, no doubt, contributes mightily to 223,000 West Virginians having diagnosed diabetes, another 45,000 likely having diabetes, and 502,000 having pre-diabetes - in total, a whopping 43% of the population has diabetes or pre-diabetes ("The Burden of Diabetes in West Virginia," American Diabetes Association, March 2023).  

9. The Heart Attack Capital of the U.S.

"According to a recent report by the West Virginia Health Statistics Center (2019), West Virginians rank first in the country for heart attacks, have the second-highest obesity rate and prevalence of mental health problems in the country, along with the fourth-highest rate of diabetes and fifth-highest rate of cancer" (2022 academic study, published on the National Institutes of Health website, emphasis added).

10. An Expensive and Dangerous Place to Have a Baby

"West Virginia ranks #1 in worst states to have a baby" (WTRF-TV (Channel 7 News, Wheeling, West Virginia), June 10, 2026).

11. Bad Teeth

"West Virginia ranks 49th out of 51 states and D.C. for dental health"(West Virginia Dental Association, accessed August 8, 2026, emphasis added); and "West Virginia ranks last in national dental health study" (WVVA (Channel 6, Bluefield, West Virginia), January 20, 2026).

12. Understaffed Hospitals

"West Virginia hospitals continue to struggle to fill thousands of healthcare positions... according to the West Virginia Hospital Association’s 2025 Workforce Report. The report... found more than 4,500 vacant positions across 13 critical hospital occupations at participating hospitals, with nursing continuing to experience the greatest workforce pressures..." (WV News, July 15, 2026, emphasis added). 

13. Healthcare Workers Stealing Narcotics--Sometimes from Patients--in Order to Get High

"WVU Health Systems knew for years that employees were stealing highly addictive drugs... Federal officials found systemwide theft and lax record keeping, and said the state’s biggest hospital system failed to stop nurses and other staff from stealing controlled substances... a patient complained she did not receive her Percocet, a mild painkiller, according to the settlement. Records show the suspected thief, a medical provider, was seen nodding off at the nurse’s station... As to where the drugs went, Kevin McWilliams, a DEA spokesman for the Louisville Field Office, which oversees West Virginia, said that the investigators concluded most were being abused by the medical providers who took them" ("WVU Health leadership failed to address painkiller thefts as opioids devastated West Virginia," Mountain State Spotlight and the Associated Press, July 20, 2026).

I almost hesitate to blame the healthcare workers involved. If you had to work in such a miserable and wretched healthcare system, you might be desperate for escape too!    

14. Shifting Costs to the Poor  

"In 2022, West Virginia spent about $6,000 per capita on hospital care, nearly $2,000 more than the national average, much of which fell on patients to pay" (West Virginia Center on Budget & Policy, October 15, 2025). And that's a problem, because West Virginians are among the poorest in the nation.

15. Low-Income West Virginians Kicked Off Medicaid, In Order to Please the Rich

"West Virginia, Oregon and New Mexico are the three states that will see the most people disenrolled from Medicaid as a result of changes in the One Big Beautiful Bill, according to a new RAND analysis" (Governing, March 31, 2026, emphasis added). And of course, we know that this is being done in order to give tax breaks to millionaires and billionaires, so that they can secure more sustainable luxury, build more dynastic wealth, and purchase more politicians, and thereby keep the U.S. caste system going.

16. Inadequate Wastewater Management 

"The state faces growing challenges, with approximately 500,000 customers, over half the population, lacking access to public sewer systems [and] Many of the 336 regulated sewer utilities are aging or operating beyond capacity..." "2025 Report Card for West Virginia's Infrastructure," American Society of Civil Engineers, p. 204, emphasis added). 

Raw sewage is a big problem because it contains "bacteria, parasites, and viruses that can cause short-term problems like diarrhea, eye infections, respiratory infection, and long-term problems like cancer, Dementia, and Diabetes" (West Virginia Public Broadcasting, January 16, 2015).  

17. Black Lung

"Black lung cases surge in West Virginia, Kentucky and Virginia coal miners, study finds" (WV News, August 7, 2026), while the Trump Administration delays "implementation of new regulations that would protect miners from deadly silica" (Yale Environment 360, April 30, 2026). 

18. Deaths of Despair

"West Virginia has had one of the nation's highest rates of deaths of despair: fatalities attributed to suicide, drug overdoses and alcohol-related disease" (U.S. News & World Report, September 1, 2021, emphasis added). 

19. Not Enough Mental Health Services to Handle the Despair 

"WV’s shortage of psychiatrists worst in the nation, report says" (West Virginia Watch, April 21, 2026).

"WV and VA patients forced out‑of‑network for mental health care amid “catastrophic” shortages" (WVVA (Channel 6, Bluefield, West Virginia), March 10, 2026). 

20. Not a Nice Place to Grow Up 

"West Virginia has the nation’s second-highest level of hardship among children, according to a 2026 WalletHub study examining poverty, health, education and family stability" (WV News, August 6, 2026, emphasis added).

And if you're a child with a disability, the hardship might be compounded by being put on a waitlist for help: "Waitlist for disability services in WV climbs to more than 1,000; mostly children waiting for help" (West Virginia Watch, October 23, 2025). 

Above: A WPA dental clinic, assisted by a worker (at left) from the New Deal's National Youth Administration (NYA), in Kanawha County, West Virginia, between 1935 and 1943. The WPA conducted dental clinics all across the country for lower-income folks who couldn't afford dental work. Photo from the National Archives.

My Observations and Experiences

From my own time living in West Virginia, I have experienced the following with respect to myself or, more often, my family: 

1. Patient dumping, in the form of dangerous discharge attempts from the emergency room and constant pressure to remove a patient from the hospital after admittance. 

2. Doctors blocking patients from receiving needed treatment, even when the doctor has no specialty in the treatment area (e.g., an emergency room or floor doctor blocking a patient from seeing an oncologist or receiving radiation therapy). 

3. Extreme medicine mismanagement (for example, failure to give the patient's normal cancer medicine while the patient is in the hospital).

4. Months-long waitlists for community resources--such as the Lighthouse Program, which assists seniors in their homes--due to a lack of funding.

5. Lack of insurance coverage or community assistance for certain types of non-emergency medical transport (NEMT), e.g., a disabled person getting to a PET scan for necessary cancer imaging and analysis.

6. Nursing home bed shortages, in nursing homes that are understaffed, that routinely neglect patients, and that are potentially abusive.

7. Threat of home loss if one is admitted to a nursing home, because of (a) nursing home cost, which immediately takes the patient's Social Security, pension, and assets; thereby leaving little or no money for home upkeep, e.g., property tax, homeowners insurance, and electricity (and this is a problem because... what if the nursing home resident is discharged? Where will they go?), and (b) Medicaid Estate Recovery, where the state will force the sale of a deceased person's house, causing distress to both the nursing home patient (while they are alive and wishing to give something to their children) and to the children or heirs who, while grieving the loss of their loved one, also learn that the house--perhaps the childhood home--will be effectively confiscated to re-pay Medicaid (this would be akin to taking the house of a deceased trucker, to re-pay highway funds). 

And Medicaid Estate Recovery is happening, by the way, after decades of estate tax cuts for the super-rich... to benefit nepo-babies, i.e., less intergenerational wealth for the working-class and poor, and more intergenerational wealth for the super-rich. Welcome to America.

8. Little or no financial aid, even for lower-income elderly patients on hospice (West Virginia University is especially stingy and cruel, as compared to healthcare providers in Maryland and Virginia).

Above: This is part of a financial aid denial letter, from WVU, that one of my family members received while in WVU hospice. The family member makes $38,000 (Social Security and pension), which is lower middle-class. But WVU can't grant one penny of assistance for an earlier hospital stay, even though the person has a very modest income and is in hospice (that's how cruel the WVU healthcare system is). Also, note the threatening tone of the letter regarding any future appointments. Only a sociopathic healthcare system sends a letter like this to a hospice patient (or any patient for that matter). This is what America--a supposedly Christian nation--has devolved into.

9. Lack of telehealth and doctor house calls which, in combination with the lack of NEMT, results in doctors ghosting their patients (because the patient can no longer make it to the doctor's office, and most doctors don't want the hassle of calling or visiting their used-to-be-easy patients).

10. Woefully underfunded hospice services that don't even provide haircuts or nail care (although you might luck out and get a home health aide that will do those things in an unofficial capacity).

To be fair, there are some great healthcare workers in West Virginia--doing their best in an extremely underfunded, understaffed, and psychopathic system--but the West Virginia healthcare system, taken as a whole, is abhorrent and lethal. 

Above: A new tuberculosis hospital in Roneys Point, West Virginia, financed by the New Deal's Public Works Administration (PWA), 1936. This hospital helped fill a desperate need for more facilities and beds for tuberculosis patients in West Virginia. Photo from the National Archives.

Most of West Virginia's Policymakers Couldn't Care Less About the State's Health Problems

It goes without saying that most of West Virginia's policymakers couldn't care less about any of the problems I've highlighted above. They're much more focused on getting tax cuts for their wealthy donors (and themselves)--both at the state and federal level--than with correcting the state's healthcare catastrophe.

Back in February of this year, I wrote to my federal "representatives"--Senator Jim Justice, Senator Shelley Moore Capito, and Congressman Riley Moore--explaining the stress of healthcare and family caregiving, and requested: "I would like to know what legislation you are working on, or are currently supporting, to help family caregivers and those they care for." Justice wrote back on February 23, "Your message has been shared with the appropriate member of my team for review." That was the last thing I heard. Capito and Moore never responded at all. It's been half-a-year, and not one of my federal representatives has answered my simple inquiry. And that, of course, is because they are not really my representatives. They are representatives of the wealthy (and wealthy themselves), and so family caregiving is not an issue for them. If the need arises, they can put their loved ones in the best nursing homes or just hire round-the-clock caregivers.

The real tragedy here, of course, is that middle and low-income West Virginians keep voting for people who don't care about them. They're duped into voting a certain way, usually over some cultural issue that has little impact on their health or daily lives, and then they're pounded into the ground with inadequate healthcare, dirty drinking water, and whole host of regressive taxes, tolls, fees, fines, and other revenue burdens (see, e.g., "West Virginia," Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, accessed August 8, 2026).

West Virginia is a public health, healthcare, and human rights disaster area. Will it ever change? One would hope so, but I'm not holding my breath. If you value your health, and you're not rich, you would do well to avoid West Virginia as a place of residence. I hate to say that, because there are nice things here too, for example, the natural beauty of the mountains, forests, and parks - but there's nothing more important than your health and the health of your family. To put it another way: scenery, fishing, and hiking are nice, yes... but you can't enjoy those things if you're dead.

Above: Gone are the days when West Virginia had representatives in Congress who cared about the people. Here, we see a newspaper excerpt from 1971 (Beckley Post-Herald (Beckley, WV), Feb. 9, p. 10), reporting on an attempt by Jennings Randolph, Democratic U.S. Senator from West Virginia, to "reactivate" the WPA in order to provide jobs and improve sanitation and healthcare across the country (note that the article gets some of the details about the original WPA wrong, such as the 1962 reference in the third column). The effort ultimately failed when Republican President Richard Nixon vetoed the bill. Randolph was a huge supporter of the New Deal, and West Virginia voters liked his policy positions. They put him in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1933-1947 and the U.S. Senate from 1958 to 1985, a total of 41 years in Congress. Unfortunately, since Randolph's time, Reagan Republicans and neoliberal Democrats have largely abandoned the people and focused more--or even exclusively--on representing their wealthy donors (e.g., tax cuts for the rich, shareholder primacy, financial de-regulation, letting infrastructure crumble, undermining unions, and allowing investors and executives to export good-paying American jobs). The result, especially for West Virginia, has been a public health, healthcare, and human rights catastrophe. Image from newspapers.com, and used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.

Florence O'Brien and the WPA's Federal Theatre Project

Above: A photo of "Florence O'Brien and the Four Kings of Rhythm." This photo was taken by the WPA in Los Angeles, between 1935 and 1939, and shows them performing in the theatre production of The History of the St. Louis Blues (possibly just called St. Louis Blues). It's unclear whether this was part of a WPA Federal Theatre production, or if the photo was taken for a different reason, for example, a WPA project documenting African America theatre. Photo from the National Archives.

Above: A close-up section of the previous photo. Florence O'Brien was born in 1912, lived her entire life in the Los Angeles area, and passed away in 2006. In this photo she would have been about 25-27 years old. 

Above: A WPA poster, promoting the WPA production of Run, Little Chillun, 1938-1939, a play about a man torn between two religions. Florence O'Brien had her breakout role in this play--playing the character "Sulamai"--which helped her land more theatre work and also start a movie career. Image from the Library of Congress.

Above: Florence O'Brien also performed in some of the other popular Federal Theatre productions, such as Swing Mikado, and here we see an ad for a privately-produced version of that musical play, also starring O'Brien. This ad appeared in the Los Angeles Examiner, November 9, 1939. Image from newspapers.com, used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.

Above: A scene from the movie Mr. Washington Goes to Town (Dixie National Pictures, 1941), with Florence O'Brien on the right. The film was billed as "The First All Colored Cast Feature Comedy Ever Made!" After reviewing her scenes in this film and others (also see, for example, her song and dance routine at the very end of Double Deal, 1939), it is quite clear that O'Brien had the skill, charm, and energy to go far in Hollywood (also see her "Sulamai" reviews below). Unfortunately, opportunities for African Americans in the film industry were severely limited in the 1930s and 40s, and her movie career was fairly brief (see next image and caption). This reminds me of the Negro Baseball Leagues, where many great ball players, such as Josh Gibson, never reached their full potential of audience, fans, and play time because of race restrictions in Major League Baseball. Josh Gibson eventually made it into the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame, so perhaps one day Florence O'Brien will be similarly recognized for her pioneering work. The screenshot above was taken from this YouTube video, and is used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.

Above: This article excerpt is from the California Eagle newspaper, August 22, 1946 edition, and highlights what seems to be O'Brien's last film work, I Wonder Who's Kissing Her Now (1947). After her movie career, O'Brien worked in real estate and also helped the less fortunate with non-profit humanitarian work. Her life is chronicled by her great-granddaughter, Beverly Lishey Stelly, in the book Gone, But Not Forgotten (New York: Page Publishing, 2015). Notice that the article also mentions several performances for the famous and long-running Amos and Andy radio program. The Internet Archive has many or all of these episodes--"Amos and Andy - 336 Episodes of the Classic Old Time Radio show" (accessed August 4, 2026)--and so we can assume that Florence O'Brien is in there somewhere, waiting to be rediscovered. Image from newspapers.com, used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.

Florence O'Brien as Sulamai, in the WPA production of Run, Little Chillun

Recall that Florence O'Brien had a standout performance in the WPA's production of Run, Little Chillun (a play by the music composer Hall Johnson). O'Brien starred in the Los Angeles production, which ran from July 22, 1938 to June 19, 1939, and played "Sulamai," a seductive woman leading a man astray from his religion and wife. The play received rave reviews, and Florence O'Brien especially so:

-- "All the principals are first rate, with Florence O'Brien taking honors. As the swaying, sultry, elemental Sulamai she radiates an animal charm that rather mitigates any evil she is supposed to symbolize" (Sara Boynoff, "Run Little Chillun Best of Season," Daily News (Los Angeles, California), July 23, 1938, p. 17).

-- "Then there was Salome, called Sulamai. She was just about the most seductive and enchanting, yet at times tender and sympathetic, in all a most contradictory personality. I may here predict for this youngster [she was about 26 at the time], Florence O'Brien, great things" (Earl Dancer, Drama Editor, The California Eagle, July 28, 1938, p. 2B).

--"Florence O'Brien stepped forth in the role of 'Sulamai'... And Was-She-Good-Say, that girl is an artist to her finger-tips. She possesses the allure of Cleopatra, the insousiance [carefree nature] of Ouida's immortal heroine... and the abandon of Sadie Thompson in 'Rain'... She disgusts you, repels you, attracts you, almost in the same breath. In the end she hypnotizes you and holds you spellbound. A superb artist without doubt, and one who should have a great future before her" ("The Laundryman," California Eagle (Los Angeles, California), July 28, 1938)  

-- "Florence O'Brien, who had the feminine lead and was most convincing as a community Jezebel, is a new find" (Earl J. Morris, "Hall Johnson's Run Little Chillun A Hit," The Pittsburgh Courier, July 30, 1938, p. 21).

--"Especially impressive are the lovely voice and dramatic power of Ruby Elzy... and the singing and acting of Florence O'Brien" (Fay M. Jackson, "Run Little Chillun Praised By Critics," The Chicago Defender, August 6, 1938, p. 19). 

-- "Florence O'Brien strikes fire as Sulamai - both as singer and dancer she evinces an exotic and original talent" ("Negro Unit of FTP Offers Spiritual," Pasadena Star-News, August 24, 1938, p. 15).

Due in no small part to O'Brien's magnetic and mesmerizing performance, the WPA's Los Angeles production of Run, Little Chillun broke attendance records "for federal plays in the west... it will have its 213th performance [on May 17, 1939]... Every night, rain or shine, the house has been packed from floor to balcony, and seats have had to be reserved as much as a week ahead" ("Run Little Chillun Moves to Hollywood," Associated Negro Press, in the Journal and Guide (Norfolk, Virginia), May 6, 1939, p. 16). Other newspaper articles claimed that the play held the all-time attendance record for federal shows, although it's unclear whether they're referring to the Los Angeles production alone, or combined with the San Francisco production (see, e.g., "Chillun Holds Federal Record," Hollywood Citizen News, May 17, 1939, p. 4). 

The Los Angeles production of Run, Little Children was so popular that after its official run ended special engagements were performed (see, e.g., "Run Little Chillun Will Return," Pasadena Star-News, July 14, 1939, p. 9) and a national tour was planned: "That splendid troupe of Negro actors, who have made dramatic history with their Los Angeles Federal Theater productions, are now launched on a new adventure. They are taking Hall Johnson's deep South Negro spiritual-drama-with-music on a nationwide tour" ("Music Is Superb In Negro Show," Pasadena Star-News, June 22, 1939, p. 14).

The development of the national tour (or lack thereof), and Florence O'Brien's involvement in it, needs more research. The play passed into private hands shortly after the national tour plans were reported, and many of the cast members--including perhaps, O'Brien--left for other work. 1939 and 1940 were incredibly busy and successful years for O'Brien, cast in more theatre plays and starting her movie career. It's likely she decided to forego the tour idea and instead focus on the opportunities presenting themselves right there in Los Angeles.

For more information about O'Brien's movie career, check out her Wikipedia page, IMDB page, and Beverly Lishey Stelly's book, Gone, But Not Forgotten (New York: Page Publishing, 2015).

A New Deal for African Americans and Theatre

Above: Under the advice and direction of Rose McClendon, a popular Broadway actress (seen above, second from right), the WPA's Federal Theatre Project set up "Negro Units" in New York City, Seattle, Hartford, Philadelphia, Newark, Los Angeles, Boston, Raleigh, Birmingham, San Francisco, and Chicago (Hallie Flanagan, Arena, New York: Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1940, pp. 62-63). Above we see McClendon and others at the Lafayette Theatre in New York City, to see a Federal Theatre performance of Macbeth, 1936. Photo from Wikipedia and the Library of Congress.

Above: The description for this photograph--taken in New York City, ca. 1938--reads: "'Macbeth,' adapted by Orson Welles. Negro Theatre Unit - WPA Fed. Theatre Proj. of NYC - Act III, Scene 2." Photo from the National Archives.

The 1938-1939 relationship between the WPA and Florence O'Brien is a wonderful story of mutual aid. Like many actors and artists during the 1930s, O'Brien was probably having trouble finding consistent theatre or film work. Feast or famine has always been a dilemma for actors, but especially so during the Great Depression (early 1930s) and even as the New Deal was stabilizing the economy with stimulus spending, Social Security, FDIC, protections for unions, regulations against stock market fraud, etc. So, O'Brien landed a job in the WPA's Federal Theatre Project and was able to earn a modest income while waiting for a bigger break; and indeed, it appears that her performance in Run, Little Chillun opened up the private sector doors!. 

Again though, the relationship was mutually beneficial, with O'Brien's stunning and crowd-drawing performance aiding the FTP's credentials - and the latter was important because there was no shortage of FTP critics in Congress, in the professional theatre world, and also people who just didn't approve of the New Deal and its efforts to provide employment for actors, artists, and musicians, let alone the racial mixing they saw in some its plays and audiences.

Above: The description for this 1938 photograph reads: "Backstage in a Federal Theatre of the WPA... 800 Negro theatrical workers are employed as actors, directors, scriptmen, stage and lighting technicians... Pictured here are the stagehands and electricians working under the direction of the stage manager at the Lafayette Theatre in New York, New York." Photo from the National Archives.

The WPA's Federal Theatre Project was especially important for African American actors and stage hands because, as noted before, opportunities in the private sector were very limited - and if white actors and theatre workers were having trouble finding employment, one can only imagine the situation for African Americans. But thanks to folks like Harry Hopkins (head of the WPA), Hallie Flanagan (head of the Theatre Project), Orson Welles (who acted and directed in the Federal Theatre), and Helen Tamiris (a gifted dancer and choreographer in the FTP's dance unit), African American actors, dancers, and singers had opportunities in the "Negro Units" of the FTP and also in some integrated productions. (The New Deal's National Youth Administration (NYA) had a small dance unit, which gave the famous African American dancer Pearl Primus her first break in the business.) 

In her book, Furious Improvisation: How the WPA and a Cast of Thousands Made High Art out of Desperate Times (New York: Walker & Company, 2008), author Susan Quinn argues that "Right from the start, Hallie Flanagan had committed the Federal Theatre Project to an enlightened race policy: Black performers would receive equal pay for equal work, and audiences for all Federal Theatre performances would be integrated. This was unusual at the time... In fact, the Federal Theatre Project was probably the least discriminatory of all the WPA programs" (pp. 99-100).  

After the Federal Theatre Project was shut down in 1939--by a Congress fearful of (or just grandstanding about) the three bogeymen communism, race mixing, and wasted taxpayer dollars--Hallie Flanagan wrote: "If this first government theatre in our country had been less alive it might have lived longer. But I do not believe anyone who worked on it regrets that it stood from first to last against reaction, against prejudice, against racial, religious, and political intolerance" (Hallie Flanagan, Arena, New York: Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1940 p. 367).

Above: A crowd piles into the Moore Theatre in Seattle, Washington, to see the Negro Theatre Unit perform It Can't Happen Here, on the night of October 27, 1936. Performances of the play were carried out in multiple cities that night (but I'm not sure if any other Negro Units performed the play), including one in Tacoma (see, e.g., "'Can't Happen' Opens Tuesday," The Tacoma Sunday Ledger, October 25, 1936, p. 4-A). Photo from the National Archives.

Above: A scene from the Negro Theatre Unit's production of It Can't Happen Here, Seattle, Washington, 1936. It Can't Happen Here was a play by Sinclair Lewis, about fascism taking hold in America, and was one of the WPA's most popular productions. Photo from the National Archives.

The story of African Americans and the Federal Theatre Project, and perhaps especially its hiring of Florence O'Brien--followed by her jaw-dropping performance and pioneering work in movies--within the context, realities, and limitations of Jim Crow America is an important and inspiring story. Like so many other aspects of the New Deal--for example, the Rural Electrification Administration (a partnership between progressives and rural folk); the Indian New Deal (which facilitated self-government, cultural preservation, and the return of Indian land); and the Civilian Conservation Corps (which hired young men to create or improve many of the state and national parks we enjoy today)--it highlights what we can do when we support one another, instead of using insults, shame, and deprivation as "motivators." It shows what a government can do when it is truly of, by, and for the people, and committed to the General Welfare - all the people's welfare.

Elizabeth Clauss, Director of the WPA's Women's and Professional Projects for Northern California

Above: This unfortunately poor quality photo shows Elizabeth Clauss (1903-1997), WPA Director of Women's and Professional Projects for Northern California, in a meeting with other WPA administrators, ca. 1938. She is the lady in the light-colored clothes on the right. Image from the WPA publication, Northern California's Three Years of Achievement Under the Works Progress Administration, 1935-1938.

Above: This photo appeared in The San Francisco News, April 21, 1936. Image from newspapers.com, used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.

Above: A map showing Clauss's jurisdiction, Northern California. The scope and number of activities under Clauss's supervision were enormous, and included projects related to healthcare, childcare (nursery schools), housekeeping assistance, education, libraries, museums, historical surveys, artwork, and sewing (see, e.g., Works Progress Administration, Report on Progress of the Works Program in San Francisco, January 1938, pp. 134-156; and also the publication highlighted at the end of this caption). For women, Clauss's division covered "28 fields of activity, the largest one of which is the statewide sewing program [which employed] approximately 8,000 women" ("Relief Work For Women," The Post Enquirer (Oakland, California), November 26, 1935). Image from the WPA publication, Northern California's Three Years of Achievement Under the Works Progress Administration, 1935-1938.

Above: Clauss's division created maps and models, including one that will soon be on full display after being boxed-up and forgotten for decades (the big WPA model of San Francisco, seen above at top). Image from the WPA publication, Northern California's Three Years of Achievement Under the Works Progress Administration, 1935-1938.

Above: A close-up section of the previous image.

Above: WPA workers under Clauss carried out many clothing and healthcare projects. Image from the WPA publication, Northern California's Three Years of Achievement Under the Works Progress Administration, 1935-1938.

Above: Shoe repair, botany, and nutrition projects. Also, in the middle-right we see WPA workers creating the largest relief map in the world, to be displayed at the Golden Gate International Exposition, 1939-1940 (for more information about this relief map, see "New Deal Accomplishment: Hundreds of thousands of maps and land models," July 14, 2026). Image from the WPA publication, Northern California's Three Years of Achievement Under the Works Progress Administration, 1935-1938.

Above: This is the largest and clearest photo I could find of Clauss. She is the woman farthest to the right (standing), and appears here with other Kappa Alpha Theta alumnae from UCLA, in 1935, not too long before she became a WPA administrator. This photo appeared in the Los Angeles Times, March 24, 1935. Image from newspapers.com, used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.

Elizabeth Clauss

Elizabeth Clauss was born in Kansas City, Missouri, on January 29, 1903 and died on January 6, 1997 in Saratoga, California (see, e.g., "Elizabeth Clauss Hall," Find-a-Grave, accessed August 2, 2026).  

There does not seem to be a lot of information about Clauss online or in digital newspaper archives, but I was able to piece together the following: she graduated from UCLA; worked as a librarian; was active in drama clubs; married Wallace W. Hall, a college administrator, in 1941; held her WPA position from at least October 1935 through June 1939; and, during her work in the WPA, she split her time living in San Francisco, at 775 Post Street (the Warrington Apartment Building), and across the Bay in Belvedere. When she died, Clauss was described as a community leader for Belvedere for 60 years. 

(Some sources of information: "Elizabeth Hall," San Francisco Chronicle, January 22, 1997, p. 12; "Miss Clauss Presides," The Morning Press (Santa Barbara, California), April 6, 1934; "Marriage Licenses Issued," The San Francisco Call-Bulletin, December 25, 1941; "Works Program Launched In State," The Journal-Republican (Auburn, California), October 10, 1935, p 8; and "Compile Inventory of The County's Records," Los Gatos Times (Los Gatos, California), June 16, 1939, p. 4).     

Oregon, REA, and the Columbia Basin Electric Cooperative

Above: A booklet of Christmas Carols from the Columbia Basin Electric Cooperative (Heppner, Oregon) to its members, ca. 1955. The booklet was published by the Amalgamated Lithographers of America, Local No. 4, Chicago. Image scanned from a personal copy.

Above: Part of the back cover of the Christmas Carol booklet. Notice "Corp." is used, instead of "Cooperative" or "Co-Op." The official name of the co-op was "Columbia Basin Electric Cooperative, Incorporated." It was formed in 1940, received a low-interest loan from the New Deal's Rural Electrification Administration (REA) in 1945, and started delivering affordable electricity to Oregonians in north-central / northeast Oregon in 1949. Image scanned from a personal copy.

Above: One of the many songs included in the booklet. Today, "Columbia Basin Electric has grown from its original membership of roughly 400 to nearly 4,000 members... The Cooperative serves residential, commercial, industrial and irrigation customers throughout a service area of approximately 3,000 square miles in five counties" ("About Us," Columbia Basin Electric Cooperative, accessed April 1, 2026). Image scanned from a personal copy.

Above: A pinback highlighting the value of the Columbia Basin Electric Cooperative, as well as the many other electric cooperatives in Oregon that began or grew with the assistance of FDR, the New Deal, and REA. Image scanned from a personal collection.

Above: The REA was just one of many power-related policies and programs that helped rural Oregonians. Another was the New Deal's Electric Home and Farm Authority (EHFA) that helped them purchase electrical appliances on low-interest credit terms. This ad comes from the Greater Oregon newspaper (Albany, Oregon), February 17, 1939. Image from newspapers.com, used for educational and non-commercial purposes.

Above: A closer view of the bottom of the ad, showing electrical appliances that rural Oregonians could enjoy for the first time, thanks to programs like REA and EHFA - electric stoves, clothes washers, fans, lights, refrigerators, radios, toasters, and more.

The New Deal helped bring power, convenience, and improvement to Oregon!

The REA, rural Oregon, and the Coos-Curry Electric Co-op

Above: In this book (published by Bonanza Publishing, Prineville, Oregon, 1988) we learn from author Rick Steber that "Although power was available in the cities, the rural areas lagged behind until the Rural Electrification Administration was created by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1935. The REA provided low-interest loans to cooperatives of rural residents willing to share the costs of bringing power to their homes." Image scanned from a personal copy.

The New Deal brings power to rural Oregon

The Coos-Curry Electric Co-op (Port Orford, Oregon) started its life as the "Coos Electric Cooperative" in 1939. That same year it received a loan of $119,500 (about $2.8 million in 2025 dollars) from the New Deal's REA to start the process of bringing power to rural areas at or near the southern Oregon coast. It was one of 17 electric co-ops in Oregon to receive low-interest financing during the first 20 years of REA, 1936-1956.

New Deal intervention in the electric market was needed because private power companies were wholly uninterested in serving rural areas - a complete market failure that left rural Americans without modern conveniences such as electric lights, washing machines, stoves, and water pumps.

The REA helped create hundreds of rural electrical cooperatives across the nation and most are still in operation today. They provide affordable power to millions of people and highlight the enduring value of New Deal progressivism (other examples include Social Security, state parks created by the CCC, and FDIC to insure our bank deposits).

(Sources: "Coos Electrical Co-Op Has Okeh On $119,500 Loan," Coos Bay Times (Coos Bay, Oregon), November 6, 1939, p. 1; REA, Rural lines, USA: The story of the Rural Electrification Administration's first twenty-five years, 1935-1960; and "About Us," Coos-Curry Electric Cooperative, accessed March 25, 2026.)   

Integrated CCC camps in the Phoenix District

The following photos are from the Official Annual 1936, Civilian Conservation Corps, Phoenix District, 8th Corps Area (Direct Advertising Co., Baton Rouge, Louisiana), and are used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.

Above: Part of CCC Company 835, at Camp F-19-A, Prescott, Arizona. These young men worked on the improvement of Prescott National Forest.

Above: Enrollees in CCC Company 822, at Camp F-33-A, Mayer, Arizona. Company 822 had work projects involving trail construction, bridge building, and soil erosion control.

Above: The undefeated baseball team of CCC Company 2870, Camp F-18-A, Prescott Arizona. Enrollees in Company 2870 engaged in the elimination of tree disease and had opportunities to learn auto mechanics, welding, mineralogy, and other vocations and skills.

Above: A band in CCC Company 1837, Camp SP-8-A, Kingman, Arizona. Company 1837 did much work at Hualapai Mountain Park (see, e.g., here and here).

Above: Another photo from Company 1837 (see previous photo). Note the older folks. They are probably war veterans who, while normally formed into their own CCC units, have been integrated into a camp of mostly younger enrollees. One can imagine the benefits of such an arrangement, such as the sharing of wisdom and experience.

CCC Integration: A complex history

The photos above highlight that the demographics of CCC camps were more complex than what many modern critics of the New Deal would have us believe (that the CCC was a hard-core discriminatory and segregationist program from start to finish). This is not to say that everything was racially fair and harmonious in the CCC--it existed in Jim Crow America, after all--just that the history needs to be examined and evaluated more carefully, for example, taking into account different ethnic groups and races, regional differences, changes over time, and the variety of reasons why some camps had a degree of integration while others had none at all.

For more photos of CCC integration, this time in the Tucson District of Arizona, see my blog post, "Interesting examples of integration in the Civilian Conservation Corps, from Arizona."

The 1953 National Rural Electric Cooperative Meeting in San Francisco: Fighting corporate greed

Above: A pinback from the 1953 NRECA meeting in San Francisco. Image scanned from a private collection.

Rural Electric Cooperatives Fight Back Against the Greedy Little Hands of Corporate America

At the 1953 meeting of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) in San Francisco, it was noted that private power companies were seeking to takeover certain public dams "to monopolize for themselves the power produced at these valuable hydroelectric resources" ("Fight Is Outlined For Public Power," The Chattanooga Times (Chattanooga, Tennessee), January 30, 1953).

NRECA noted that "certain vested interests" were seeking to takeover national forests, the Tennessee Valley Authority, and the Bonneville Power Administration: "We express our vigorous opposition to these proposals which are in effect a barehanded 'raid on the Commonwealth'... we urge that the Congress refuse to transfer our resources or delegate its powers to private corporations or other organizations not subject to democratic control" ("Rural Electrification Group Raps Private Firms' Clamor," Associated Press, in the Vallejo Times-Herald (Vallejo, California), January 30, 1953).

Today, Rural America needs to revive its fighting spirit, and push back against billionaires, corporations, and the super-wealthy investors who are jacking up their prices, buying politicians, and attacking needed services such as Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and infrastructure for clean water.