New Deal Art: Dismissed, rejected, and no place to go

Above: "Vagabonds," an etching by Mildred Bryant Brooks (1901-1995), created while she was in the WPA's art program, ca. 1935-1943. Image courtesy of the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Above: "Weary," a painting by Edward Millman (1907-1964), created while he was in the WPA's Federal Art Project, 1937. Image courtesy of the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Above: "The Jungle," a wood engraving on paper by Charles Surendorf (1906-1979), created while he was in the WPA's Federal Art Project, ca. 1935-1939. Image courtesy of the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Above: "Dismissal," an oil painting by Howard Taft Lorenz (1906-1956), created while he was in the WPA's art program, 1940. Image courtesy of the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Above: "Eviction," an aquatint by Dorothy Rutka (1907-1985). According to the Ohio Library and Information Network, it was made while Rutka was in the WPA. Image courtesy of the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Above: "The Wanderer," a drypoint on paper by Louis Lozowick (1892-1973), created while he was in the WPA's art program, 1940. Image courtesy of the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Above: "Flop House," another oil painting by Edward Millman (1907-1964), created while he was in the WPA's Federal Art Project, 1937. Image courtesy of the Smithsonian American Art Museum

Above: A 1939 photograph of a migrant family, by Mary Post Wolcott (1910-1990), taken while she was in the New Deal's Farm Security Administration. The mother told Wolcott, "We ain't never lived like hogs before, but we sure does now." Photo courtesy of the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

After the Stock Market Crash of 1929 (and a little bit before that too), many millions of lives were decimated - lost jobs, lost savings, lost homes, lost farms, lost families, and lost hope. The New Deal, through various work-relief programs, construction grants, transient camps, public housing initiatives, low-interest credit opportunities, bankruptcy protections, and more, relieved a lot of the suffering. It didn't solve poverty altogether--and neither did World War II, or America's post-war economic boom, or anything else we've done since then--but lasting programs of the New Deal (for example, Social Security, FDIC, unemployment insurance, and food stamps) have greatly mitigated the pain & suffering associated with low or no income. 

If American voters ever have the guts to stop relying on millionaires & billionaires to manage their lives--and decide to implement another, even stronger New Deal--we'll make even more substantial improvements to everyone's quality of life.

We need New Deal II.