New Deal Art: "Spillway, Ashokan Dam"

Above: "Spillway, Ashokan Dam," an oil painting by Arnold Wiltz (1889-1937), created while he was in the New Deal's Public Works of Art Project, 1934. Wiltz died from pneumonia at the age of 47, and when he died his wife Madeline was critically ill at the same hospital... similar to the stories we hear today of husbands and wives hospitalized together, with covid-19 ("Arnold Wiltz," Associated Press, in the Chattanooga Times, March 15, 1937, p. 7). Fortunately, Madeline (Schiff) Wiltz recovered from her illness. She was also an artist, born ca. 1885-1895, and passed away in 1966. Image courtesy of the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

An American Indian Woman in the CCC, her U.S. Marine brother, and today's Burdette Hall building

Above: Dorothy Burdette, 19-year-old Apache woman and office worker in the Civilian Conservation Corps - Indian Division, San Carlos Reservation, Arizona, 1942. Photo from Indians at Work, a publication of the Office of Indians Affairs, March 1942.

The Civilian Conservation Corps (1933-1942) was limited to male enrollees. Back then, gender roles for women usually did not include physical forestry work (a new CCC, if we ever had one, would need to include women and more minorities). However, women undoubtedly contributed much to the CCC, through important but unsung administrative jobs. One of those female administrative workers was Dorothy Burdette, a 19-year-old Apache woman at the San Carlos Reservation in Arizona. The work of Burdette and others supported the 80,000+ American Indian men (nation-wide) who enrolled in the CCC and worked on projects that benefited their lands, for example, fighting forest fires, soil conservation, and infrastructure improvements. 

During her time assisting the CCC's Indian Division, Ms. Burdette was known for her "adaptability, interest and general character." Her work included typing, letter writing, purchasing, "and writing Government bills of lading." Burdette's time in the CCC inspired her to attend business school. (Indians at Work, U.S. Department of the Interior, Office of Indian Affairs, March 1942, p. 34.)

I don't know much about Ms. Burdette's post-CCC life; an Internet and newspaper archive search wasn't very fruitful. But I did discover that she was the brother of Snyder Burdette, a U.S. Marine, and the first Apache from the San Carlos Reservation to be killed in action during World War II. Snyder Burdette participated in many Pacific Theater fights, including Guadalcanal, before dying at the Solomon Islands. ("Apache Marine Dies in Action," Arizona Republic, December 18, 1942, p. 17; and "Building Named for Heroes," Arizona Republic, February 21, 1964, p. 17). 

Snyder Burdette was one of many American Indians who served, fought, and died for the United States during World War II; and today, there is a "Burdette Hall" at the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation that honors Snyder Burdette and hosts community events (see, e.g., the Instagram page for Burdette Hall). 

And what became of Dorothy Burdette? Did she go into business? Did she marry and have children? Did she play a role in her tribe's government? Is it possible she's still alive (she'd be about 97)? Every so often, someone will contact me about my blog, with more information about someone I've written about. Perhaps someone will contact me about Ms. Burdette too.

Actress Peggy Jennison and the WPA play "Dragon's Wishbone"

Above: A WPA poster, advertising the WPA production of Dragon's Wishbone. This children's play was written by Joan and Michael Slane, specifically for the WPA, and was performed in Denver, Tampa, and at least one other location from about October 1938 to March 1939. The play is about a boy who keeps saying "I can't," takes a trip to the moon with his college-educated cat, and "is swished away by the 'I can't' witch and is held for torture. From then on he has many ups and downs and after a difficult struggle he regains the dragon's wishbone which is the only means by which he may return home" ("WPA Theater Will Present Comic Fantasy," The Tampa Times, February 20, 1939, p. 3). Image courtesy of George Mason University.

Above: A scene from a Tampa, Florida performance of Dragon's Wishbone. Left to right are Peggy Jennison (who played the boy's college-educated cat), Helen Mae Church, and Billy Dale. Photo by Roscoe Frey, appearing in The Tampa Tribune, February 22, 1939 edition, courtesy of newspapers.com, used here for educational, non-commercial purposes.

Above: In addition to playing the educated cat in Dragon's Wishbone, Peggy Jennison starred in several other WPA productions in Florida, including Boy Meets Girl, Gallow's Gate, and Counselor at Law. Apparently, she was well known for her comedic talents. After her time in the WPA she continued acting in theater well into the 1940s (and perhaps beyond). She married her first husband, Alfred Lippe, sometime between 1936 and 1945, and the two had five children together. In 1963, she married a second time, to Frank A. Armstrong, Jr. (a retired Air Force General, and the main inspiration behind Gregory Peck's character in the 1949 movie Twelve O'Clock High). She also became the vice president of the Tampa Blueprint Company. This might be the same Tampa Blue Print Company that today celebrates over 50 years of business, and is a "certified small and woman owned minority business enterprise." Photo from The Tampa Tribune, July 28, 1936, courtesy of newspapers.com, photographer unknown, used here for educational, non-commercial purposes.

Above: Peggy Jennison as Elvira, a ghost who tries to foil her husband's second marriage, in a performance of the comedy Blithe Spirit, in Birmingham, Alabama, 1946. Peggy Jennison Armstrong died on March 23, 1973, at the age of 55. She was survived by three sons, two daughters, and two grandchildren ("Armstrong," The Tampa Tribune, March 24, 1973, p. 16). May she rest in peace. Photo from The Birmingham News, October 22, 1946 edition, courtesy of newspapers.com, photographer unknown, used here for educational, non-commercial purposes.

New Deal Art: "Ten Cent Movie"

Above: "Ten Cent Movie," a watercolor painting by Reginald Marsh (1898-1954), created while he was in the WPA, 1939. Image courtesy of the General Services Administration and the T.W. Wood Gallery & Arts Center.

New Deal Art: "Cement Mixer"

Above: "Cement Mixer," a color lithograph by Jacob Kainen (1909-2001), created while he was in the WPA's Federal Art Project, 1937. Kainen developed left-wing views during the Great Depression, and when asked about it, he said: "Well, in the Depression, in 1929, I used to see entire blocks evicted, people with their bedding out in the street... no place to go, their mattresses out there. So I took part in the unemployed councils. We used to take the furniture back upstairs and the police gave only half-hearted resistance. So I think that got me started. The government seemed to do nothing about [the economic problems of the working class]." Image courtesy of the General Services Administration and the University of Iowa Museum of Art.

The WPA's spectacular Pinocchio, and its triumphant 1950 revival

Above: This is one of several photographs that appeared in the March 27, 1939 edition of LIFE magazine. It shows a scene from the WPA's New York production of Pinocchio. LIFE described the play as "one of Broadway's most charming productions." Photo scanned from personal copy, and used here for educational, non-commercial purposes.

Above: This photo appeared in the March 23, 1939 edition of the Daily News newspaper (New York City), with the following caption: "Edwin Michaels expects to have to wear this makeup all Summer - for the WPA Federal Theatre has a hit on its hands in 'Pinocchio,' at the Ritz Theatre. This story of the legendary puppet, whose nose grew every time he told a lie, will be given its seventy-fifth performance tonight and there is a large advance sale at the box-office." Photographer unknown, courtesy of newspapers.com, used here for educational, non-commercial purposes.

Above: A WPA poster, promoting the WPA production of Pinocchio. According to the Internet Broadway Database, WPA's Pinocchio started on Broadway on December 23, 1938 and ended on June 30, 1939, with a total of 197 performances. Author Susan Quinn writes: "The production turned out to be a hit with adults as well as children... Pinocchio was playing to standing room only and contributing to the best matinee business Broadway had enjoyed since 1929" (Furious Improvisation: How the WPA and a Cast of Thousands Made High Art out of Desperate Times, New York: Walker & Company, 2008, p. 265). Image courtesy of George Mason University.

Above: As indicated by this WPA poster, the WPA performed Pinocchio in various cities across the United States, with different cast members at each location (the Alcazar was a theatre in San Francisco, not to be confused with the currently-named "Alcazar Theatre"). Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Above: Hallie Flanagan, the director of the WPA Theatre program, included this photo in her book Arena (Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1940). It shows Edwin Michaels playing Pinocchio and Gabrielle Duval playing the marionette ballerina. Writing to the Dies Committee (the congressional committee that ultimately helped destroy the WPA's popular Federal Theatre Project), Flanagan said: "You might be especially interested in this production, not only because it represents one of our major efforts in the field of children's theatre, but because it is a visualization of what we have been able to do in rehabilitating professional theatre people and retraining them in new techniques. In Pinocchio we use fifty vaudeville people who were at one time headliners in their professions and who, through no fault of their own, suddenly found themselves without a market" (p. 346). Photographer unknown, used here for educational, non-commercial purposes.

Above: Two of the vaudeville performers that Hallie Flanagan referred to-- - Ettore Maggioni and Helen Goluback--were described in the official program for WPA's Pinocchio. Vaudeville and "Variety" acts were dying out by the 1930s, and many of the performers are completely forgotten today; but they were great and talented performers in their heyday (late 1800s / early 1900s). Image scanned from personal copy.

Above: A scene from WPA's Pinocchio, exact date and location unknown. Set designs for the play were elaborate, and music was provided by the WPA's Federal Theatre Orchestra. Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Above: At the Ritz Theatre on Broadway, an audience enjoys a WPA performance of Pinocchio, December, 1938. Despite Director Flanagan's letter to the Dies Committee, Congress shut down the WPA Theatre and made sure that children could never see Pinocchio again (with one exception, 11 years later; more on that below). At the end of the final Broadway performance, Pinocchio was put in a coffin "which bore the legend: 'Born December 23, 1938; Killed by Act of Congress, June 30, 1939'" (Arena, p. 365). The photo above appeared in the Daily News newspaper (New York City), December 30, 1938, photographer unknown, courtesy of newspapers.com, used here for educational, non-commercial purposes.

Above: A costume design for WPA's Pinocchio. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Above: Another costume design for WPA's Pinocchio. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Above: This WPA poster advertises the WPA production of Pinocchio in Boston, "Beginning Tuesday April 11th." The following day, The Boston Globe reported: "The Federal Theatre brought to life last night Pinocchio, the little Italian puppet of fairy tale fame, and took the large audience at the Copley Theatre on a rollicksome adventurous tour of the land of marionettes, Boobyland, to a big circus, and lastly to the bottom of the sea and inside a whale's stomach. Three acts and nine scenes of a 'land of let's-pretend,' filled with song and dance, high comedy, and picturesque scenes were unfolded deftly and expertly by the Federal Theatre group" ("The Stage, Copley Theatre, 'Pinocchio,'" The Boston Globe, April 12, 1939, p. 12). Image courtesy of George Mason University.

Above: This is a page from the official program for WPA's Pinocchio. One thing you will notice is that the role of "Young Father" was played by Vito Scotti (1918-1996). Scotti was born in San Francisco and after making his Broadway debut in WPA's Pinocchio went on to become a prolific character actor, appearing in an astonishing number of television shows from the 1950s into the 1990s. Image scanned from a personal copy.

Above: The cover of the official program for WPA's Pinocchio. Interestingly, if you go to the Wikipedia page for Pinocchio, which is fairly thorough, there is no mention of WPA's Pinocchio (as of October 25, 2020), not even in the list of stage productions. Yet, WPA's Pinocchio was a Broadway hit and likely had some degree of influence on Walt Disney's famous Pinocchio animated film (see, e.g., Beth Fortson, "Original Costume Sketches for a Production of Pinocchio, 1939," The Unwritten Record, a blog of the National Archives, January 19, 2016; and "'Pinocchio' very special to son of author," The Morning Call, April 30, 2010). This is an interesting example of how the WPA's great public works and legacy have been forgotten by modern Americans. Image scanned from a personal copy.

Above: Edwin Michaels as Pinocchio, in a scene at the Ritz Theatre. It's interesting to consider that this man, forgotten in time, helped to restore the Broadway economy from the Great Depression. Photo courtesy of the Broward County Library.

Above: Edwin Michaels, ca. 1926, age 17. Not a ton of information exists on Michaels, but we know he was born in Philadelphia around 1909, on Lehigh Avenue, and attended Visitation School (which is also on Lehigh Avenue, and today is named "Visitation B.V.M. Catholic School"). In the mid-to-late 1920s he began making a name for himself as an exceptional vaudeville dancer and acrobat. His sister, Gertrude Michaels, was also a dancer, and spent several years with the Ziegfried Follies. It appears that Edwin reached Broadway at least three times, Queen High, 1926-1927; Tobias and the Angel, 1937 (another WPA production); and Pinocchio, 1938-1939. He performed for another year or two after Pinocchio, but then retired from acting to pursue a career in private business. But he returned to play Pinocchio once more in 1950 (see below). After that, there is no concrete information on his life or even the exact year of his death. Rest in peace Mr. Michaels, wherever you may rest. Photo from "Another Native Sun Scores a Success," The Philadelphia Inquirer, May 2, 1926, p. 67, unknown photographer, courtesy of newspapers.com, used here for educational, non-commercial purposes.

WPA Pinocchio Returns!

WPA's Pinocchio must have been really, really popular... because 11 years later, in 1950 (seven years after the WPA ended - and thus not officially a WPA production), it returned, with the original WPA director, Yasha Frank, and two of its original actors, Edwin Michaels and Sam Lewis (the latter of whom used to have a successful vaudeville act, "Lewis and Dody," decades earlier). Pinocchio's return was for one week at Pitt Stadium (University of Pittsburgh), and newspaper accounts from the time described it as an extravagant and alluring production; apparently, children had to be restrained from running on stage and joining in on the fun. 

And Edwin Michaels had one last moment in the spotlight:

"Edwin Michaels has come out of 'retirement' to recreate the Pinocchio role that he portrayed in the Federal Theater production. And he is superb. His every move has meaning and the importance of this is particularly significant when you consider that most of his work depends upon pantomime ability... For an evening of sheer pleasure get out to the Pitt Stadium some night this week" ("Pinocchio Charms Stadium Small Fry: Adults as Well as Youngsters Cheer Outstanding Production," The Pittsburgh Press, August 8, 1950, p. 14, emphasis added).

Above: This ad appeared in the August 6, 1950 edition of the Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph newspaper. Image courtesy of newspapers.com, used here for educational, non-commercial purposes.

Forgotten New Dealer Florence Kerr, her recollection of Harry Hopkins, and her thoughts on the WPA and civilization

Above: Florence Kerr, right, 1935. Photo by the Minneapolis Star, provided courtesy of Newspapers.com, and used here for educational, non-commercial purposes.

Florence Kerr (1890-1975) was an administrator in the WPA during the entire life of its existence and, at one point--as chief of the Women's and Professional Division (1939-1943)--oversaw the work of 400,000 workers on a wide variety of projects, like art, sewing, nursing, school lunches, and archaeology. After her stint in the WPA, she was the director of the "War Public Services Division" of the Federal Works Agency. In this capacity, she supervised public works expansion (schools, sewers, childcare, etc.) in communities all across the country that were becoming overwhelmed by new defense industries and new defense workers during World War II. After the war, she was an executive with Northwest Airlines, and the first vice president of the Woman's National Democratic Club in Washington, DC. 

Florence Kerr is a forgotten New Dealer, but she shouldn't be. Her life's accomplishments are pretty extraordinary.

During an oral history interview in 1963, Kerr recalled Harry Hopkins and his departure from the WPA at the end of 1938:

"I missed Harry like everything because we didn't have inspiring leadership [after 1938]. We had directions, but we didn't have inspiring leadership... oh, Harry was a wonderful leader - just a wonderful leader. That kind of a wry funny way he had of saying things, you know, that had all kinds of punch, and he was so fearless in a man-to-man combat that they were afraid of him in a way. He was really quite magnificent."

Above: Left to Right - Ella G. Agnew, director of Virginia's WPA Women's and Professional Division; Izetta Jewell Miller, regional (i.e., multi-state) director of WPA's Women's and Professional Division; William Smith, Virginia's WPA administrator; and Florence Kerr, national director of the WPA's Women's and Professional Division. Kerr is showing a model that highlights various types of WPA work. Photo by The Times Dispatch (Richmond, Virginia), 1940; provided courtesy of Newspapers.com and used here for educational, non-commercial purposes.

"To me, at least, the question of a WPA job for an unemployed and destitute musician, clerk, teacher, nurse or draftsman is more than a question of figures in the budget of a fiscal year. It is a question of what kind of civilization we have, what kind of civilization we want, what kind of civilization we are willing to struggle for and hand to our children. If this is indeed a dying civilization, if we have no hope for the future, if it is not worthwhile to make any effort, then what we are doing in our WPA projects has no significance. But if we believe in the future, if we have faith in democracy, if we are working together in the common cause of a better America, then our humblest WPA projects are at once an act of faith and a practical contribution to the cause that we serve."

--Florence Kerr, quoted in "Costs of Constructive Peace Work Less Than That of War, Says WPA Official," The Times Dispatch (Richmond, Virginia), April 25, 1940, p. 6.

New Deal Art: "Airfield-Stonington"

Above: "Airfield-Stonington," an oil painting by Archie Chapman Tillinghast (1909-1988), created while he was in the WPA, 1941. The Connecticut State Library has a brief biography of Tillinghast here. Image courtesy of Carol M. Highsmith.

New Deal Art: "Downstairs"

Above: "Downstairs," an oil painting by Loren MacIver (1909-1998), created while she was in the WPA's Federal Art Project, ca. 1936-1939. Image courtesy of the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Above: A closer view of the bottom portion of "Downstairs."

Above: A closer view of the middle portion of "Downstairs."

The National Youth Administration (NYA) Dance Group of San Francisco (and elsewhere). Plus: NYA dancer Pearl Primus!

Above: Some of the dancers of the National Youth Administration (NYA) Dance Group of San Francisco. Photo by E.R. King, Associated Press, part of a larger group of photos appearing in multiple newspapers in July 1937; provided courtesy of Newspapers.com, and used here for educational, non-commercial purposes.

Above: Ann Whittington, left, supervisor of the NYA Dance Group of San Francisco, and Rosalie Wagner, assistant supervisor. Photo by E.R. King, Associated Press, part of a larger group of photos appearing in multiple newspapers in July 1937; provided courtesy of Newspapers.com, and used here for educational, non-commercial purposes.

The Forgotten NYA Dance Group

The NYA Dance Group is almost certainly the least remembered art program of the New Deal. It seems to have existed from 1936 to 1938 (with some indication that it may have lasted into 1940), and operated in at least three locations - California, Pennsylvania, and New York. The Group appears to have been a component of the WPA's Federal Theatre Project (FTP) and perhaps also the FTP's semi-autonomous Federal Dance Project.

Ann Whittington was the supervisor of the NYA Dance Group of San Francisco; and, in addition to being a modern dance performer, was an accomplished cellist. After the NYA, she married and became Ann Whittington Oppenheim, and lived in Mill Valley, California. In 1951-1953, she was one of three founders of what is today the Marin Symphony Association (see, "Guild Believes 'They Shall Have Music'," Daily Independent Journal (San Raphael, California), February 28, 1953, p. 27; and "History & Who We Are," Marin Symphony, accessed September 21, 2020). 

According to the website "Ancient Faces,"Ann Whittington Oppenheim lived from 1912-1997.  

The assistant director of the NYA Dance Group of San Francisco was Rosalie Wagner. After her time in the NYA, she moved to Hawaii and taught and performed dance there for at least a few months. In January 1939, however, it was announced that she was marrying Robert G.K. Smith (described as a well-known photographer in San Francisco) and I could find little information about her after that ("Talented Island Dancer to Marry on Mainland," Honolulu Star-Bulletin, January 21, 1939, p. 24).

In an interesting 1938 article about Rosalie Wagner, it was stated that the NYA Dance Group of San Francisco "reached a high point of achievement with a concert in Oakland in 1937 with the Federal Symphony [i.e., the WPA's Federal Music Project], the first performance of a local dance group with a symphony seen in the Bay area in many years" ("Feminine World," The Honolulu Advertiser, August 16, 1938, p. 6). This was probably the same performance reviewed by Jack Mason, of the Oakland Tribune, in October 1937. Mason wrote:

"The Federal Symphony Orchestra took a step aside last night at the Auditorium Theater to make way for a guest Muse - the Dance, exemplified by the Modern Dance Group of the National Youth Administration. The dancers took over the second half of the program and enhanced it by ten original and stimulating numbers... The dances concentrated on rhythmic line, geometric pattern, and comedy... all [dancers] exhibited a fine talent for pantomime... it was an evening of singular enjoyment. Choreography for the dances was by Ann Whittington and Rosalie Wagner" ("Dance Group Shares Honors At Federal Symphony Concert," Oakland Tribune, October 23, 1937, p. 2). The night's performance was in memory of the prestigious music composer & conductor Henry Hadley, who had died the month before.

Meanwhile, the NYA's dance group in Pennsylvania was performing at a variety of locations, for example, high schools, a government employees' picnic, a juvenile detention center, a home for disabled children, and the Woods Run Settlement House in Pittsburgh.

Pearl Primus, NYA Dancer

Above: Legendary dancer, anthropologist, and recipient of the National Medal of Arts, Pearl Primus, 1943. Photo by Carl Van Vechten, provided courtesy of the New York Public Library, used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.

Pearl Primus (1919-1994) got her professional dancing start in the National Youth Administration: "She was born in Trinidad, British West Indies, and was graduated from Hunter College in New York City in 1940 with a bachelor of arts degree in biology and pre-medical courses. Finding no laboratory work available in New York, she continued studying at night school and during the daytime danced in the National Youth Administration dance group as an understudy" ("Pearl Primus to Give Dance at Middlebury," Rutland Daily Herald (Rutland, Vermont), February 6, 1948, p. 10).

The New York Age reported that Primus "pirouetted to choreographic fame via the National Youth Administration and the New Dance Group of New York" ("Pearl Primus Listed in April Issue of Current Biography," The New York Age, April 15, 1944, p. 10).

Reflecting on her life, Primus said, "I didn't choose to dance about a flower or a running brook or something. I chose to answer the ills of society with the language of dance" ("Pearl Primus," Los Angeles Times, April 24, 1994, pp. 5 & 56 of the "Dance" section). This is similar to a statement by Helen Tamiris, another legendary dancer, who was the driving force behind the Federal Dance Project: "The validity of modern dance is rooted in its ability to express modern problems and, further, to make modern audiences want to do something about them" ("Helen Tamiris, Dancer, Is Dead," New York Times, August 5, 1966).

It seems that performers of modern dance frequently had something very important to communicate to the world and, in one way or another, the New Deal helped at least some of them say it.

Ida Bailey Allen, the "Original Domestic Goddess," promotes the WPA

Above: A WPA exhibit in Washington, DC, 1941, showing how celebrity chef Ida Bailey Allen (1885-1973) spoke well of the domestic projects of the WPA (sewing, school lunches, housekeeping, etc.). Photo courtesy of the National Archives.

Above: Ida Bailey Allen, ca. 1905. According to her Wikipedia page, Allen has been described as the "Original Domestic Goddess," and during her long career had books, radio shows, and TV programs on cooking and homemaking. Her books included, Cookbook For Two, Ida Bailey Allen's Modern Cookbook, and Gastronomique ("Ida Bailey Allen, cookbook queen, dies," Muncie Evening Press (Muncie, Indiana), July 17, 1973, p. 16). Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Above: Schoolchildren enjoying a WPA lunch in Portland, Maine, ca. 1935-1943. In their WPA Phonodisc Collection, Syracuse University has a recording of Ida Bailey Allen discussing the WPA's school lunch program in 1941. Photo courtesy of the National Archives.

Above: A WPA housekeeping aide fixes lunch for two boys in Washington, DC, 1938. Typically, WPA housekeeping aides were sent to working-class homes where parents were experiencing difficulty, for example, one parent in the hospital and another at work. It was, essentially, a form of free childcare, with housekeeping and light healthcare services to boot. For the housekeeping aides, they earned a paycheck and learned skills that might help them find jobs in hospitality, healthcare, or domestic industries. Between 1935 and 1943, WPA housekeeping aides made 32 million visits to homes in need of assistance. Photo courtesy of the National Archives.

Above: A WPA poster, ca. 1936-1940, advertising a three-month housekeeping course in meal planning, cooking, table service, laundry, cleaning, and child care. It's a shame that housekeeping, domestic work, stay-at-home parents, etc. have been pooh-poohed in recent decades because no work is more important than providing food, keeping us clean, and raising children to be good people. Those who do it for pay should be paid well, and those who do it for their families should be honored. And we should start a new WPA today, train housekeepers, and send them out to working-class families who need help. I think Ida Bailey Allen would agree. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Above: "Country Kitchen," an artwork by Harry Taskey (1892-1958), created while he was in the WPA, ca. 1935. Image courtesy of the General Services Administration and the Baltimore Museum of Art.

New Deal Art: "Mill"

 

Above: "Mill," an oil painting by Jacob Elshin (1892-1976), created while he was in the New Deal's Public Works of Art Project, 1934. Elshin seems to have lived an interesting life: born in Saint Petersburg, Russia; a cavalry officer in the Imperial Russian Guard; cartoonist for the North China Daily News; immigrant to America in 1923; frequenter of the Chinese Arts Club in Seattle; and a man whose works were held in the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Seattle Art Museum ("Jacob Elshin, 85," Detroit Free Press, March 13, 1976, p. 28; "Deaths Elsewhere," The Pittsburgh Press, March 12, 1976, p. 34, and Wikipedia). Image courtesy of the General Services Administration and the Seattle Art Museum.

The National Youth Administration's college fund for African Americans

Above: The caption for this photograph, taken in January 1943, reads: "Daytona Beach, Florida. Bethune-Cookman College. Two NYA (National Youth Administration) students chatting between classes on the campus." Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Above: The caption for this photograph, taken in February 1943, reads: "Daytona Beach, Florida. Bethune-Cookman College. NYA (National Youth Administration) students who live in the regular school dormitory looking at class schedule." Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress.

The New Deal helped African Americans attend college

Despite MSNBC anchor Joy Reid's recent, blanket statement that FDR and the New Deal excluded African Americans (see my last blog post), the New Deal's National Youth Administration (NYA)--created by FDR with Executive Order 7086--employed hundreds of thousands of African Americans on both in-school and out-of-school projects. The NYA also set up a "Special Negro College and Graduate Fund." During academic years 1937-1943, the NYA spent $609,930 from this special fund to help 4,118 college and graduate-level African Americans - or about $11.2 million in 2019 dollars (NYA final report, 1944, p. 52).

Though this may not seem like a lot, it must be remembered that (a) college was less expensive in those days, and (b) this assistance was on top of the NYA's routine college assistance to African Americans. The special fund was described in the NYA's final report: "Eligible Negro students who could not be employed within a particular institution's quota for college and graduate work, after the institution had made a fair allocation for Negro students from its regular quota, could apply for assistance from the special Negro college and graduate work fund through the institution which they desired to attend" (p. 51, emphasis added).

Additionally, by 1938 alone, the NYA was providing student work and financial assistance to 30,000 African American high school students, thus helping them move on to college, trade school, or post-high school employment (National Youth Administration, The Tenth Youth, Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1938, p. 5).

There has been a growing notion in modern America that the New Deal excluded African Americans - a notion now advanced by Joy Reid (who has millions of followers). But this is a false notion, a falsity that not only contradicts the historical record, but also demeans the work of African Americans who worked in the New Deal administration, such as Mary McLeod Bethune, Lawrence Oxley, and Thomasina Norford. These administrators worked hard to create more opportunities for African Americans, and they also helped lay the foundation for the Civil Rights Movement they surely knew was coming.

And to be clear, the NYA's special college fund was just one of many New Deal programs to assist African Americans.

Above: NYA workers at the Morgan State College library, Baltimore, Maryland, ca. 1935-1943. Photo courtesy of the National Archives.

"I have determined that we shall do something for the Nation's unemployed youth because we can ill afford to lose the skill and energy of these young men and women."

--President Franklin Roosevelt, "Statement on the National Youth Administration," June 26, 1935

End of the Shift

Above: "End of the Shift," an artwork by Nicholas Bervinchak (1903-1978), created while he was in the WPA, 1939. Image courtesy of Julie Redwine, General Services Administration, and the Free Library of Philadelphia.

Forgotten New Dealer: Thomasina Norford

Above: Thomasina Norford (1908-2002), known as Thomasina Johnson during the New Deal years. Photo from the Pittsburgh Courier, December 23, 1939, courtesy of Newspapers.com; used here for educational, non-commercial purposes.

Thomasina Norford was born on March 24, 1908 and died on July 28, 2002. She was a civil rights activist during the New Deal years, and contributed to the desegregation of the U.S. armed services. She also advised President Franklin Roosevelt while she was employed as a monitor in the U.S. Employment Service (see the Living New Deal's summary of the Wagner Peyser Act / U.S. Employment Service). At some point, probably around 1935 to 1940, she led a group called "Black Women Democrats for FDR."

A detailed biography of Thomasina Norford does not appear to exist in print or on the Internet, and I also could not find an obituary for her in newspaper archives. That's a shame, because she seems like a very interesting woman. However, Howard University holds an oral history interview of her, where Norford discusses her life and activities both during and after the New Deal ("Ralph Bunche Oral History Collection," pp. 158-159).

Norford is a forgotten New Dealer... but she shouldn't be. During FDR's time, she helped create the foundation for the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 60s.  

"Negroes are among the oldest settlers in this country and, further, we helped to carve this magnificent America out of the forest for many years for nothing--and for many more for little or nothing--and as such, we have every right to feel proud of our family background and our contribution to our homeland."

--Thomasina Norford, "Thomasina Norford Talks at NCNW [National Council for Negro Women] Founders Day Fete," The Pittsburgh Courier, December 26, 1959, p. 16.

New Deal Art: "Man and Dog"

Above: "Man and Dog," a sculpture by Seth Velsey (1903-1967), created while he was in the WPA, ca. 1938-1941. This sculpture sits outside the Dayton Art Institute, Ohio, and was involved in a fight between the Dayton Art Institute and the nearby town of Greenhills, a New Deal-established community. Residents of Greenhills said the statue was intended for their community and wanted it placed there. The Dayton Art Institute disagreed. The U.S. Department of Justice was called in to settle the dispute and, apparently, the Dayton Art Institute eventually won (see, e.g., "Dispute over art is carved in stone," The Cincinnati Enquirer, March 8, 2001, pp. B1 and B7). Photo courtesy of the General Services Administration and the Dayton Art Institute.

Above: Another view of "Man and Dog," from 2016. Photo by Carol Highsmith, provided courtesy of the Library of Congress.

The New Deal and the Alaska Highway

Above: A worker uses a bulldozer and scraper on the Alaska Highway, 1942. Equipment from the Civilian Conservation Corps was used to construct the Alaska Highway, for example, "300 tractors equipped with scrapers" ("The Saga of the Alcan Highway," The Gustine Standard (Gustine, California), December 10, 1942, p. 3). Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress.

New Deal ties to the Alaska Highway

The 1,300+ mile Alaska Highway was constructed from 1942 to 1943, and was built to provide an alternate supply line to Alaska during World War II. Today, the road is somewhat altered from its original route and is used for routine public travel.

The Alaska Highway was a joint effort of the U.S. Army, the Public Roads Administration (PRA, a sub-agency of the New Deal's Federal Works Agency), and many PRA-contracted businesses. Three new regiments of black soldiers assisted in the construction efforts, which took place in "rough terrain that included sub-arctic tundra, rugged mountains, and virgin forests"; and the highway "stands today as one of the boldest homeland security initiatives ever undertaken" ("Alaska Highway, 1942, 1943," Federal Highway Administration, accessed May 25, 2020).

To construct the Alaska Highway,  "A great quantity of equipment was transferred from the [recently terminated] civilian conservation corps to supplement the equipment owned by contractors. Among the major items were 300 tractors equipped with scrapers, bulldozers, or trailbuilders, 1,000 trucks, 125 air compressors with drilling accessories, 55 power shovels, 200 electric plants, 65 portable repair shops. Mixers, rollers, pumps and trailers were also supplied... Equipment for kitchens and living quarters came from civilian conservation corps supplies... workers are housed in buildings from over 40 civilian conservation corps camps that have been dismantled, transported to the job and reassembled" ("The Saga of the Alcan Highway," The Gustine Standard (Gustine, California), December 10, 1942, p. 3).

The Alaska Highway is just one of many examples of how the New Deal contributed to national defense and war efforts.

Above: A Federal Works Agency / Public Roads Administration camp on the Alaska Highway, ca. 1942-1943. These are most likely camps from the Civilian Conservation Corps, now assembled in Canada and contributing to the war effort. This image is from a Canadian post card, photographer unknown, used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.

Above: A closer view of the buildings.

Above: Another Canadian post card image, explaining planned work by the New Deal's Federal Works Agency / Public Roads Administration, ca. 1942-1943. Photographer unknown, image used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.

Above: An image showing the route of the Alaska Highway. Image from The Milepost, used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.