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.