a criticism of the works progress administration created
Harry Hopkins, top administrator of the WPA, repeatedly defended work relief to the public, revealing the deep feelings he held for the work he was doing. Toward the end of the 1930s the incredible support for New Deal programs enjoyed by the Roosevelt Administration from the U.S. Congress to combat the Great Depression was clearly waning. On May 6, 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs an executive order creating the Works Progress Administration (WPA). Following his inauguration as President of the United States in March 1933, Franklin Delano Roosevelt (served 19331945) initiated a series of work relief programs that culminated in the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1935. "The Cradle that Rocked America," in American History. 59 views, 0 likes, 0 loves, 2 comments, 0 shares, Facebook Watch Videos from City of Spencer, Iowa: Spencer City Council Meeting from Council Chambers As head of the NYA Division of Negro Affairs, Bethune was the highest-ranking black person in the New Deal. Hearings were held and passionate defenses were offered. On the one hand the U.S. public needs them to deliver the mail and process the passports. New York City: De Capo Press, 1974. Flanagan believed that theatre should both educate and entertain. The WPAwhich in 1939 was renamed the Work Projects Administrationemployed mostly unskilled men to carry out public works infrastructure projects. The goal of the residential program was to provide a rich and fulfilling environment in order to create good citizens as well as good workers. Somewhat more controversial was the Federal Writers' Project (FWP) led by Henry Alsberg. Only three months earlier an historical demonstration took place as the poor marched on Washington, DC, in the National Hunger March. In 1932 he was appointed exhibitions director at the American Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City. Communists had taken over Russia, forming the Soviet Union. In addition, the residential centers provided cultural enrichment programs. Many women on relief did not have a work history and were not, therefore, considered part of the labor force. Many worked long hours in terrible surroundings, where poor equipment, increased production requirements, and poor safety measures meant frequent injury and death. New York City: Routledge, Chapman & Hall, Inc., 1986. Republicans and conservative Democrats were challenging New Deal programs and Roosevelt himself. Would all the art be propaganda? Regardless, the WPA was immensely important to a great many people, putting money in their pockets and hope for the future. Through the board she directed economic development in the state. In 1931 New York Governor Roosevelt appointed the former social worker as the executive director of the New York State Temporary Emergency Relief Administration. The conservatives believed that not only was this unfair, but by taxing the people we were depending on to expand their business though investment, new economic growth was being deterred. As the administrators studied the situation of Depression-era youth, however, they determined that many had dropped out of school, often before completing the eighth grade. Many of the welfare-to-work programs implemented in the late twentieth century, often by conservative state governments, relied on this same belief. Brinkley, Alan. Between 10 and 12 percent of those who participated in the NYA were black Americans, amounting to about 300,000 black men and women. By 1936 the Federal Art Project employed more than six thousand artists. I've lived in Berkeley, in the San Francisco Bay Area, since 1988, and have been puzzled for a long time by the steadily declining quality of life that's accompanied the domination o. These programs, collectively called Federal One, allowed the various types of artists to work in the areas of their profession. Among them, all of those visitors, in winter and summer, spring and autumn, there will be many from the Take a look at them, if you have not, and see who they are. Omissions? Many of the projects completed under Federal One documented some aspect of American culture such as its folklore or its music. The problems with effectively using workers' skills and identifying appropriate projects, however, were largely resolved in the first year or so. "Admit you are powerless before the word," said Francine Prose, and I've read works-in-progress that has taken my breath away, either in total, or a paragraph, or a scene, or even simply one perfectly-chosen word, and sometimes these moments come from the student you'd least expect to . Criticism of the Public Works Administration. The Federal Writers' Project (FWP) employed writers, teachers, and others to compile information on all aspects of American life. Harry Hopkins, formerly head of the CWA, took on the WPA and . Woodward would serve similar functions for the Civil Works Administration (CWA), and the Women's Division of the Works Progress Administration (WPA). Fewer Americans were self-employed and more worked in factories. These challenges were compounded by the fact that the male-dominated WPA administrators could not quite figure out what jobs women could do. Millions of Americans attended free concerts and plays, learned to paint, and saw "professional" art. The WPA was disbanded entirely in 1943. "Works Progress Administration 1935-1943 Businesses including banks closed. The largest number of people in WPA was employed in engineering and construction projects where most of the money from the WPA was directed. What I need to do is to be sure that I can keep up with you in the kind of service you have been giving to this nation in the past two years. In response to this criticism of the FAP art, President Roosevelt responded that though some were good and others were not, it all reflected Americans' perceptions of their nation and the people in it. The American public is conflicted regarding its public employees. https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-and-education-magazines/works-progress-administration-1935-1943. 5-6. FERA provided direct financial aid to the unemployed. The WPA arts programs led to the later creation of the National Foundation of the Arts. 170174). In 1943, with the virtual elimination of unemployment by a wartime economy, the WPA was terminated. Even many among the more financially well off believed that both morality and practicality required a more equal approach to wealth and the benefits it accorded. The Cradle Will Rock became a triumph and played to acclaim all over the country. Apparently the people who have borne the burnt of the long depression have kept the desire to work to get back on their feet. Edsforth, Ronald. The WPA Oklahoma Slave Narratives. The controversy surrounding the FTP's productions and the WPA in general resulted in questions of Communist influence. The FAP murals represented a renewed interest in American life. They argued that by making the government the largest employer, even at depressed Many of the states were too impoverished to address the poverty of their own people. HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. Hopkins was a proponent of work relief and the potential of the government to improve people's lives. In addition to Pollock, the WPA employed a number of other abstract and experimental artists that would go on to form the New York School, an avant-garde art movement of the 1950s and 1960s. It is generally agreed that there are from ten to twelve million unemployed in the country. While this did not happen, the concern about the potential impact of organized youth was not unfounded. He believed direct relief to be debilitating and demoralizing. More than five thousand cases of alleged job refusals (of both WPA and private assignments), reported since 1935, have been investigated by agents of the federal government. Because of racial segregation and discrimination in the South, many more black Americans in the North were able to participate in NYA programs than those in the South. About half of the workers were involved in the direct creation of art. American labor seeks no charity, but only a chance to work for its living. In January 1937 Harry Hopkins provided testimony before a congressional committee. Injury or death often meant the entire family faced imminent poverty and homelessness. It provided employment as a way to help Americans (rather than offering direct payments). Marshall, Will Geer, Burt Lancaster, and John Houseman. Because each style has its own formatting nuances that evolve over time and not all information is available for every reference entry or article, Encyclopedia.com cannot guarantee each citation it generates. A month after taking office, the Roosevelt Administration launched the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). President Roosevelt's works progress administration of 1935 considered many infrastructure programs for the benefit of the U.S. citizens. By design the subjects many painted were subjects from everyday life: a fishery, or steel workers, or the poor. When it was at its largest, the Works Progress Administration employed 30,000 administrators and an average of 2.3 million workers per year between 1935 and 1940. The largest and most important of the New Deal cultural programs was the Works Progress Administration (WPA), a massive employment relief program launched in the spring of 1935 -- the beginning of FDR's "Second New Deal," as his second term came to be known. In the trauma of the Great Depression, demonstrations and rebellions were increasingly common. Transcribed as told to the FWP writers with dialect and slang included, the Narratives generally include just a brief observation by the writer. The Slave Narratives include the transcripts of interviews with almost 2,300 Americans who were once slaves. Woodward petitioned to have the Women's Division become part of the Professional Division where there might be more seemingly appropriate jobs for women as stenographers and office workers. Historic Events for Students: The Great Depression. Under Nikolai Sokoloff, the FMP employed 15,000 out-of-work musicians. Then, copy and paste the text into your bibliography or works cited list. ." The extraordinary contribution of the WPA workers significantly improved the infrastructure of the United States within a relatively short time. It put four million people to work within four weeks. The unemployed organized to fight for jobs, and tenants organized to fight for better housing. The committee searched for communist influence the WPA projects. A New Deal for the Arts. The actors performed their roles from the audience. The Works Progress Administration in 1935 was a prime example of this effort. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. Harry Hopkins, who had headed the state organization under Roosevelt, now headed FERA. Are they hoboes and ne'erdowells? The WPA supervised the activities of the National Youth Administration (NYA). Cultural events and their attendees should be determined by tastes, not by class. In this time of massive unemployment, conservatives felt that taxes fell disproportionately upon the wealthy, including the owners of business. The Dies Committee placed Representative Clifton Woodrum in charge of the investigation. Even people who supported the idea of the arts and saw work in the arts as real work raised concerns about government-sponsored art. That the plea was written in Icelandic did not deter the horror at the inclusion of a political message in a work of art. ", In the past few days I have inspected many great governmental activitiesparks and soil protection sponsored by the Works Progress Administration; buildings erected with the assistance of the Public Works Administration; our oldest and best-known National Park, the Yellowstone, under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service; great irrigation areas fathered by the Reclamation Service; and a few hours ago a huge navigation and power dam built by the Army engineers . It was part of his New Deal plan to lift the country out of the Great Depression by reforming the financial system and restoring the economy to pre-Depression levels. Many labor shortages reported at the present time are recurring problems which first arose long before the WPA and have continued through the depression. Schlesinger, Jr., Arthur M. The Coming of the New Deal. A significant aspect of the Works Progress Administration was the Federal Project Number One, which had five different parts: the Federal Art Project, the Federal Music Project, the Federal Theatre Project, the Federal Writers' Project, and the Historical Records Survey. If the government kept the workers barely employed on barely sustainable wages they might be prevented from rebellion. The . All sorts, of course. By choosing to apply for a position within the Works Progress Administration, applicants were indicating that their situation was such that they required the wages to survive. Within the Cite this article tool, pick a style to see how all available information looks when formatted according to that style. As these reports show, the WPA has not been a large factor in the labor supply. Undeniably, a variety of opinions, including Communist views, were regularly being expressed in America in the 1930s. The theatre programs she started included the Living Newspaper (a series of plays explaining and commenting on current events), regional theatre productions, and unusual interpretations of traditional plays. With a deficiency appropriation of $790,000,000, it is contemplated that $655,000,000 would be made available for the Works Progress Administration, including the National Youth Administration. The aim of critique is to open up what we can imagine. The work provided a way of making a meaningful contribution to a family's income while the students stayed in school. Many of the discussions about government-sponsored art are still held today, as controversial artists receive government grants, or have government grants repealed. Most former slaves were old and most of their individual stories would not have been preserved if not for the efforts of the WPA writers. They installed 23,000 miles of storm and sanitary sewers and constructed 880 sewage disposal plants. An estimated 30 million people attended productions of the Federal Theatre Project before it was disbanded in 1939. The Works Progress Administration established a number of projects to provide work relief to artists, musicians, writers, and actors. (7) See note 1 at pp. Following World War II Williams continued working against racial discrimination in the South for the next 20 years. Research what buildings, art projects, theatre productions or other WPA project impacted your community. Jacksonville, MS: University Press of Mississippi, 1999. WPA construction projects sometimes ran three to four times the cost of private work. The Federal Theatre Project (FTP) was the most controversial of the Federal One projects. Viewing the situation from another angle, our studies of the seasonal variation in relief show that the number usually declines about 15 per cent from February to June. U. S. Federal Works Agency Staff. Some politicians criticized the WPA for its inefficiencies. 2019Encyclopedia.com | All rights reserved. This alone was very controversial. Oral histories are the memories of a time or event, told in the individual's voice. 2023