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.

The New Deal improved public health in Puerto Rico

Above: A new health clinic in Puerto Rico, ca. 1940. Photo by the Puerto Rico Reconstruction Administration (PRRA), from the PRRA / WPA book, Puerto Rico: A Guide to the Island of Boriquen.

The New Deal ethos vs. a modern sociopath worldview

Sociopath: "a person with a psychopathic personality whose behavior is antisocial, often criminal, and who lacks a sense of moral responsibility or social conscience" (Dictionary.com).

In modern America, there has been a widespread lack of moral responsibility and social conscience towards Puerto Rico. This lack of concern is seen after every battering the island takes, for example, financial debt, hurricanes, and now coronavirus. The public health system of Puerto Rico has been neglected, and it appears that no crisis is big enough for our neoliberal federal government, and much of the citizenry, to give a damn.

(See, e.g., "Puerto Rico mayors work to fight coronavirus with few tests available," NBC News, April 17, 2020; "A 13-year-old’s death highlights Puerto Rico’s post-Maria health care crisis: Hundreds of doctors have left the island, and hospitals and clinics remain shuttered," Vox, February 27, 2020; "Puerto Rico's Wounded Medicaid Program Faces Even Deeper Cuts," NPR, August 1, 2018; and "Electricity Cut Off For Puerto Rico Hospital That Owed $4M," NBC News, March 11, 2016.)

Of course, this lack of empathy not only applies to Puerto Rico, but to the nation as a whole. It seems we've been trained, very thoroughly, to not care about one another. Perhaps Ayn Rand's numerous books, promoting sociopathy, and the political leaders who took inspiration from her work--for example, Ronald Reagan, Alan Greenspan, Paul Ryan, and Donald Trump--have created a new America: a "To Hell with everyone but me" America.  

It doesn't have to be this way of course. For example, during the New Deal, the Puerto Rico Reconstruction Administration (PRRA, created by FDR's Executive Order No. 7057) "established sixty-four rural dispensaries... These dispensaries operated as regional clinics, each unit consisting of three dispensaries staffed by a physician, nurse, social worker and clerk" (PRRA, Rehabilitation in Puerto Rico, 1939). 

These type of public health initiatives occurred all across the country during the New Deal. See, for example, my recent blog post: "Rural hospital closings vs. New Deal hospital construction."

Today, sadly, either Americans don't know about this history (and are too lazy to learn about it), or they do know about it, but their sociopath training has led them to think, "No, we absolutely should not do that public health stuff again because... well... I just don't give a crap."

I'm sure it's a combination of both. And Corporate America loves this mixture of ignorance and sociopathy. It allows them to close rural hospitals (to increase profit), price gouge our prescription medicines, and give us health insurance plans that are designed to enrich wealthy shareholders first... and address our health needs second, if at all. And whenever one group of Americans say, "We need to fix these problems," another group of Americans, trained in sociopathy, scream out an angry, hate-filled, "Freedom!!" to squash any reform that will improve the quality of our lives.  

Will Americans ever adopt the New Deal ethos again? Or are we just going to muddle along, on sociopathy, decade after decade... as our wages stagnate, our retirement benefits erode, our life expectancy continues to drop, and our happiness goes the way of the Dodo Bird? (See, "What America can learn from the world's happiest countries," The Week, March 21, 2019.)

Above: Young Puerto Ricans in the New Deal's National Youth Administration (NYA) get a health check-up, ca. 1935-1943. Photo courtesy of the National Archives.

Eleanor, Puerto Rico: A New Deal Town

Above: The Eleanor Housing Development in Puerto Rico, ca. 1940. The town was constructed by the New Deal's Puerto Rico Reconstruction Administration (PRRA) and named after Eleanor Roosevelt. Photo by PRRA, from the PRRA & WPA book Puerto Rico: A Guide to the Island of Boriquen.

Above: Eleanor Roosevelt Grade School in Eleanor, Puerto Rico, ca. 1940. Photo by PRRA, from the PRRA & WPA book Puerto Rico: A Guide to the Island of Boriquen.

Above: The Eleanor Roosevelt Elementary School (today a two-story building) is still in operation, 80 years later. Image from Google Earth, used here for educational, non-commercial purposes.

Eleanor, Puerto Rico

Eleanor is a town in San Juan, Puerto Rico. It was constructed during the New Deal by the Puerto Rico Reconstruction Administration (PRRA), ca. 1936-1940. The town is described in the PRRA & WPA book, Puerto Rico: A Guide to the Island of Boriquen (1940, p. 269):

"The Development is a modern town in itself, with paved streets, sidewalks and drains, water system, sanitary and storm water sewerage, a school, a police station, an underground electrical distribution and telephone system. There are 131 one-family houses, 91 two-family houses, 4 block model units for 128 families and 31 three-bedroom houses - in all 472 dwellings in which nearly 2,500 persons live. No particular style of architecture has been adhered to. Some houses follow the Spanish colonial traditions, and some are designed along modern lines. Both styles have been simplified to the extreme in order to bring the cost down without sacrificing comfort and convenience. Each house consists of a porch, a combination living and dining room, two or three bedrooms with closets, a bathroom equipped with modern plumbing and a kitchen with a charcoal stove."

The New Deal performed an extraordinary amount of work in Puerto Rico - improved sanitation, more schools, electrification, the reduction of land monopolies, housing, and much more. The town of Eleanor and the Eleanor Roosevelt Elementary School are just two example of that work.