Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) raised crop and livestock prices by paying farmers to produce less Public Works Administration (PWA) granted money to states to construct schools and community buildings Senator from Mississippi from 1898 to 1901 and served in the U.S. House of Representatives briefly before that. Final Report on the WPA Program, 19351943. This serious unemployment situation which has stunned the Nation for the past year and a half has brought to our attention in a most vivid fashion the need for some sort of relief to protect those men and women who are willing to work but who through no fault of their own cannot find employment. All articles are regularly reviewed and updated by the HISTORY.com team. College Station, TX: Texas A&M University Press, 1998. Related Articles: Navigating the National . In addition to its well-known building and infrastructure projects, the WPA also oversaw a group of programs collectively known as Federal Project Number One. The Committee charged that the Federal One projects were radicalizing America. They wanted everyone to be able to enjoy a good Shakespeare play or to see a Rembrandt. In early 1933 Franklin Delano Roosevelt became President of the United States. And some of us have the only chance we will ever again in our life have to do this job for all the people. In addition, the residential centers provided cultural enrichment programs. If the pace of criticism is urgent and may demand immediate action, critique can be slow and indirect, and often raises more questions than it answers. Hopkins, June. It is generally agreed that there are from ten to twelve million unemployed in the country. It employed approximately six thousand writers, librarians, archivists, and teachers annually. In 1935, the WPA employed approximately 350,000 Black Americans, about 15 percent of its total workforce. 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. The idea of unionizing American workers was gaining acceptance in some areas. The unemployment rate in 1935 was at a staggering 20 percent. What about those who are not on the WPA or on direct relief? In 1935 slavery had been illegal for 70 years. As head of the NYA Division of Negro Affairs, Bethune was the highest-ranking black person in the New Deal. Historic Events for Students: The Great Depression. It was these programs that were most innovative, most controversial, and of most enduring interest in American history. I tell you, I have to pinch myself sometimes when I think how some of us have been catapulted into these positions and I will tell you now of the faith and confidence that I have in you, the devotion which you have given to this thing for the past two years and I know I do not have to appeal to this crowd for support. Most online reference entries and articles do not have page numbers. Refer to each styles convention regarding the best way to format page numbers and retrieval dates. In addition to concerts, the FMP made significant strides towards collecting and preserving folk music and other types of authentic, traditional American music. The astonishing thing is that so little trace of lost morale can be found in the records. Housema, Lorraine Brown (Ed.). The FWP sent thousands of writers out to talk with American Indians, frontier women, Appalachian miners, and other individuals from various cultural groups around the United States. President Franklin D. Roosevelt created the WPA with an executive order on May 6, 1935. During the 1920s and 1930s, many Americans and, in fact, people all over the world had begun to advocate for more accessible culture. Headed by Harry Hopkins, the WPA provided jobs and income to the unemployed during the Great Depression in the United States. They learned in school that in America the boy who studies and works day and night will marry the boss's daughter and become president of the company. In the late 1930s, composer Virgil Thomson, director and producer John Houseman, and director and actor Orson Welles collaborated on a play. FERA provided direct financial aid to the unemployed. Liberals deplored the low wages of the WPA. Through his guidance the FAP employed 4,300 artists in 40 states. Hallie Flanagan (18891969). Critics, however, felt that much of the art was horribly bad and that anyone could claim to be an artist. The Federal Writers' Project also undertook a major effort in compiling oral histories. Murals depicted workers and, sometimes, union organizers. The Lasting Values of the WPA: The Social Welfare History Project, Virginia Commonwealth University Libraries. To blame the WPA for a shortage of labor is to charge that the tail is wagging the dog. The HRS was extraordinarily prolific, preparing bibliographies of American history and literature, an atlas of congressional roll-call votes, an index to unnumbered executive orders, and a list of the collection of presidential papers. In a change of direction Roosevelt and Hopkins designed the WPA to be completely administered by the federal government. "Works Progress Administration 1935-1943 The relative prosperity allowed many Americans to explore music and plays. The WPA shut down in June of 1943. PWAP and later Federal One combined the economic desire to provide assistance, a renewed interest in democracy, and an interest in the development and exploration of American culture. WPA workers built or repaired 1.2 million miles of culverts and laid 24,000 miles of sidewalks. Normally, there is a seasonal increase of about 800,000 private jobs during these 5 months; but an increase of from 1,200,000 to 1,500,000 private jobs will probably be necessary to remove 600,000 persons from the W.P.A. The Federal Arts Project, Federal Writers Project, and Federal Theater Projectall under WPA aegisemployed thousands of artists, writers, and actors in such cultural programs as the creation of art work for public buildings, the documentation of local life, and the organization of community theatres; thousands of artists, architects, construction workers, and educators found work in American museums, which flourished during the Great Depression. PWAP was not designed strictly as a work relief project. There is hardly a personwho does not know of an intimate friend, America had emerged from World War I (19141918) with strength and a world mission. These included Jackson Pollack, Willem De Kooning, Anton Refregier, and Yasuo Kuniyoshi. 5. Gustaitis, Joseph. As part of the New Deal, the WPA program was developed in response to the horrible unemployment and destitution of the time, which affected almost every aspect of society. The Federal Theatre Project received the most virulent criticism for undermining traditionally held American values by the U.S. Congress. It was this aspect of the work relief programs that provided fodder for critics and ultimately led to the program's demise. The WPA did not escape criticism from almost every group in America. Rich in history, the Narratives provide an important record of a crucial part of American history. Almost every corner of the United States realized some improvement due to the WPA workers. The other WPA projects continued for a few more years. It seemed that there was nothing Americans could not do. Within the Cite this article tool, pick a style to see how all available information looks when formatted according to that style. The WPA was a large and comprehensive organization. Some saw the move to provide relief and later work programs as a way of heading off a Communist revolution. When President Franklin Roosevelt took office in January 1933, 15 million Americans were unemployed. From 1936 to 1944 she held the position of Director of the Division of Negro Affairs of the National Youth Administration, making her the first black American woman to become a federal agency head. These challenges were compounded by the fact that the male-dominated WPA administrators could not quite figure out what jobs women could do. As he began to sing the opening song a voice joined his from the audience. 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. The WPA Oklahoma Slave Narratives. The Saturday Evening Post claimed Flanagan was trying to "Russianize" the Part of this had to do with segregation requirements. High school students were also eligible for part-time employment, since they often made a significant contribution to the family income. A month after taking office, the Roosevelt Administration launched the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). Later it added the one-act play unit, dance theatre, the Theater for the Blind, marionette theatre, a Yiddish vaudeville unit, a German unit, an Anglo-Jewish theater, and the Radio Division, among other groups. In the course of his journalism studies he became friends with artists in his Greenwich Village neighborhood. The Woodrum Committee also dictated that the Federal Theatre Project was to be discontinued immediately. This would mean that starting with 2,200,000 Works Progress Administration workers in February, we should ordinarily expect a decline of about 340,000 workers, leaving 1,860,000 on Works Progress Administration projects during June. He had created military youth groups in support of him and his programs. Many of the FTP productions were similarly criticized. A play depicting the struggles of a family in a contemporary New York City tenement could be just as meaningful and just as much art as a play written three hundred years earlier. Ellen Woodward, who headed the Women's Division of the FERA and the CWA and later the Women's Division of the WPA, proposed 250 job categories appropriate for women. Some politicians criticized the WPA for its inefficiencies. Born in Oxford, Mississippi, Woodward's father was a U.S. The New Deal: America's Response to the Great Depression. Many of the welfare-to-work programs implemented in the late twentieth century, often by conservative state governments, relied on this same belief. The WPA provided work relief for millions of people during a challenging time in American history of the Great Depression. However, the Works Progress Administration's was highly criticized for its creation of artistic and infrastructure jobs because people felt the program gave too much power to the . Called the American Guide Series, many of the volumes are available in re-prints, and remained a valuable guide to important sites within the United States decades later. While governor of New York before becoming president, Franklin Roosevelt publicly expressed some of his earliest views on government relief programs in the summer of 1931. During its eight-year existence, the WPA put some 8.5 million people to work (over 11 million were unemployed in 1934) at a cost to the federal government of approximately $11 billion. An estimated 30 million people attended productions of the Federal Theatre Project before it was disbanded in 1939. In the 1930s, the Federal Government created the largest and most ambitious American New Deal agency. The workers at HRS undertook a huge effort to compile and analyze the inventories of state and county records. New York City: Henry Holt and Company, 1999. Seen in this light, critique helps drive intellectual inquiry. The administrators of the WPA were responsible for the inappropriate allocations. In that year increasing charges of mismanagement and of abuse of the program by workers led to a reduction in appropriations, and a strike by construction workers against wage cuts was unsuccessful. The Federal Writers' Project (FWP) employed writers, teachers, and others to compile information on all aspects of American life. Even classic plays received a new treatment when produced by the Federal Theatre Project. Roosevelt and Hopkins also believed that work relief should not be demeaning, especially in this time of high unemployment. However, the date of retrieval is often important. Under the NYA, high school students could work part-time for no more than $6 a month, and college students could make up to $20 a month. Some felt that much of the work was make-work. The Works Progress Administration established a number of projects to provide work relief to artists, musicians, writers, and actors. The WPA also sponsored the National Youth Administration, which sought part-time jobs for young people. 53-54. Flanagan, with the support of Hopkins, designed an incredibly ambitious program for the FTP. The Public Works Administration (PWA) was created as a portion of the National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933 . If the government kept the workers barely employed on barely sustainable wages they might be prevented from rebellion. Hearings were held and passionate defenses were offered. Regardless, the WPA was immensely important to a great many people, putting money in their pockets and hope for the future. Find History on Facebook (Opens in a new window), Find History on Twitter (Opens in a new window), Find History on YouTube (Opens in a new window), Find History on Instagram (Opens in a new window), Find History on TikTok (Opens in a new window), WPA workers repairing sidewalks. Soon after the inauguration of Franklin Roosevelt as president in March 1933, Harry Hopkins recruited Williams to be his assistant at the Federal Emergency Relief Administration. 13. The 1920s also saw dramatic growth in the amount and diversity of art and music throughout the United States and the world. On this basis, private employment will have to increase to the extent of 500,000 to 650,000 more than seasonal expectations if Works Progress Administration employment is to be reduced to 1,600,000 in June. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Are they people who are no good and who are incompetent? Through the board she directed economic development in the state. In New York he gained an education from Columbia University and the New School for Social Research. Many writers who were employed by the Federal Writers' Project would go on to become famous including Ralph Ellison, John Cheever, Conrad Aiken, Richard Wright, Saul Bellow, Studs Terkel, Dorothy West, and Zora Neale Hurston. Much of the "Art for the Millions" was designed to show normal people in normal activities. The WPA was designed to provide relief for the unemployed by providing jobs and income for millions of Americans. The artists it employed included some who were not on the relief rolls. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt lobbied FDR to sign the executive order establishing Federal One. 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 Holger Cahill (18931960). The WPA - which in 1939 was renamed the Work Projects Administration - employed mostly unskilled men to carry out public works infrastructure projects. In a radio address on October 12, 1933, Harry Hopkins, Roosevelt's friend, advisor, director of the Federal Relief Emergency Administration (FERA), and future head of the WPA, said (as quoted in June Hopkins, p. 163): "Who are these fellow-citizens? Some radical critics, including The New Republic's Jonathan Mitchell, saw more devious causes behind the low wages. While the Roosevelt Administration faced significant criticism and challenges regarding the WPA, and the program did not, in fact, last very long. These highly-educated administrators tended to view blue-collar workers as an undifferentiated mass, and made little attempt to understand the subtleties of skills or job requirements. The WPA had many supporters, particularly those personally helped by the program. Most of our unemployed workers are unskilled, and most of the scarcity is in the skilled trades . Highway workers are often deplored as wasting time and prolonging projectsnot unlike the criticisms of the WPA workers digging a hole just to fill it. Despite contrary evidence, public workers were often criticized for being overpaid and lazy. The WPA supervised the activities of the National Youth Administration (NYA). Work relief was a concept that Roosevelt had implemented successfully in New York. It was for these carpenters, bricklayers, and artisans that the WPA was developed, but one unique aspect of it went beyond traditional workers. Harry Hopkins, who had been chief of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration and the Civil Works Administration during 1933 and 1934 . "Legacies of the New Deal," in The Chronicle of Higher Education. WPA arts programs drew frequent criticism from Congress and the lay public. To reduce Works Progress Administration employment to 1,600,000 workers, therefore, it will be necessary for 260,000 Works Progress Administration workers to find jobs over and above seasonal expectations. Regardless of these administrative problems, the WPA workers were highly productive. The message delivered to the New York state legislature asking for unemployment relief legislation was a signal of what would be coming to Congress two years later (as quoted in June Hopkins, p. 154). As a result most of the WPA women ended up in one of nine thousand sewing centers around the country. Throughout its brief history, the WPA wrestled with how to make the jobs sufficiently attractive to boost the morale of the unemployed workers, without making them so attractive that the workers would prefer them to private employment. To that end, wages were intentionally kept significantly below positions in the private sector. Are they tramps? https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-and-education-magazines/works-progress-administration-1935-1943, "Works Progress Administration 1935-1943 After World War II, Pollock became a major figure in the abstract expressionism movement. On the further extreme, communists believed that work relief was a way to prevent more meaningful change. Oklahoma City, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1996. ." . Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press, 1997. . It put four million people to work within four weeks. He believed direct relief to be debilitating and demoralizing. Some of them later became world-renowned. The WPA also had a requirement that only one member of a family could be employed, which inadvertently discriminated against women. Dangerous Theatre: The Federal Theatre Project as a Forum For New Plays. Many of the buildings and highways and other projects built by the men of the WPA are still part of the American landscape. As weapons production for World War II began ramping up and unemployment dropped, the federal government decided a national relief program was no longer needed. Encyclopedia.com. 5-6. The Federal Theatre in New York included the Living Newspapers, the Popular Price Theatre, an Experimental Theatre, a Negro Theatre, and a Tryout Theatre. 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. The vast majority still believe in work. Millions of Americans attended free concerts and plays, learned to paint, and saw "professional" art. After the surprise attack by Japan on U.S. military installations at Pearl Harbor in December 1941, the Federal Writers' Project became part of the Writers' Unit of the War Services Division of the WPA. While many of the conservatives were sympathetic to the poverty and hunger around them, they felt that the economy would eventually improve on its own leading to greater employment. Work Projects Administration (WPA), former U.S. government agency, established in 1935 by executive order of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt as the Works Progress Administration; it was renamed the Work Projects Administration in 1939, when it was made part of the Federal Works Agency. She was appointed President Roosevelt's Special Advisor on Minority Affairs from 1935 to 1944. It was with this belief in the universal importance of art and music that programs such as the WPA's cultural programs for artists, musicians, writers, and actors would take root. The following quote is from a press conference in the summer of 1935 soon after the program had begun (as quoted in Charles, p. 131). Encyclopedia.com gives you the ability to cite reference entries and articles according to common styles from the Modern Language Association (MLA), The Chicago Manual of Style, and the American Psychological Association (APA). The men would be employed on projects requiring little investment, such as cleaning neighborhoods and digging drainage ditches. He characterized federal relief as addictive and a destroyer of the human spirit. outermost parts of our Nation, travelers from the Middle Wet, the South and the East, Americans who are fulfilling a very desirable objective of citizenshipgetting to know their country better. Over its eight years of existence, the WPA put roughly 8.5 million Americans to work building schools, hospitals, roads and other public works. Luther Evans (19021981). Liberals felt that the low wages were unacceptable. Although critics called the WPA an extension of the dole or a device for creating a huge patronage army loyal to the Democratic Party, the stated purpose of the program was to provide useful work for millions of victims of the Great Depression and thus to preserve their skills and self-respect. Life among the Texas Indians: The WPA Narratives. Worse, many felt that the art was "leftist" portraying subjects that depicted the poverty and harsh conditions of the United States. It was the first real federal program in work relief and a precursor to 1935's Works Progress Administration. Marshall, Will Geer, Burt Lancaster, and John Houseman. Many found the situation extremely disillusioning, though most participants found the centers themselves to be a good experience. Some feared that the WPA, Civilian Conservation Corps, and National Youth Administration could lead to militarized youth as in Germany. 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. . One of the most powerful collections compiled by the FWP writers is that of the Slave Narratives consisting of more than two thousand oral histories from black Americans who had formerly been slaves. . Many women on relief did not have a work history and were not, therefore, considered part of the labor force. Some Americans felt that these people were simply avoiding getting a "real job.". The WPA made significant contributions to the preservation of Black culture and history with the Federal Writers Project. The Works Progress Administration (WPA) was an ambitious employment and infrastructure program created by President Franklin Roosevelt in 1935, during the bleakest days of the Great Depression. This mural in San Francisco's Coit Tower was supported by the Works Progress Adminsitration. Woodward also instituted training and employment programs in mattress making, bookbinding, domestic service, canning of relief foods, school lunch preparation, and supplemental childcare. Updates? Even people who supported the idea of the arts and saw work in the arts as real work raised concerns about government-sponsored art. In each of the eleven localities covered in the Fortune survey, a board of local citizens was set up to rate the WPA workers and relief recipients as to employability. This alone was very controversial. The. Small concessions, such as work relief, delayed the revolution. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1999. Bold, Christine. Black and white men could work on outdoor projects together. There were no requirements for even the lowest standards of quality. The Work Projects Administration was originally named the Works Progress Administration when it was established as a national agency on May 6, 1935, by an executive order of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Republicans and conservative Democrats were challenging New Deal programs and Roosevelt himself. Which of the following was a criticism of the Works Progress Administration (WPA)? which of the following was a criticism of the Works Progress Administration (WPA)? In 1943, with the virtual elimination of unemployment by a wartime economy, the WPA was terminated. Criticism of the WPA came from all fronts. Articles with the HISTORY.com Editors byline have been written or edited by the HISTORY.com editors, including Amanda Onion, Missy Sullivan and Matt Mullen. In that year increasing charges of mismanagement and of abuse of the program by workers led to a reduction in appropriations, and a strike by construction workers against wage cuts was unsuccessful. The Federal Music and Theatre projects also supported Black musicians and actors. The play, to be a production of the Federal Theatre Project, was a celebration of the triumph of labor unions. Injury or death often meant the entire family faced imminent poverty and homelessness. The guidebooks and the oral histories remained as their New Deal legacy. Sculptors created monuments, and actors and musicians were paid to perform. Furthermore the conservatives criticized the WPA and other New Deal programs as being an inappropriate use of government. Many of the newly established regional orchestras survived the cancellation of the FMP, and a few still existed at the end of the twentieth century. Called Voodoo Macbeth, this all-black production was set in Haiti instead of Scotland and included voodoo priestesses as the three witches. When Roosevelt became president he recruited Hopkins to implement his various social welfare programs including from 1935 to 1938 the Works Progress Administration. This misunderstanding led to the lingering perception that work done by WPA workers was not necessaryit was invented to give them something to do. They argued that by making the government the largest employer, even at depressed Updated: September 21, 2022 | Original: July 13, 2017. 2023 . The aim of critique is to open up what we can imagine. The employment schedule, involving a reduction of 600,000 workers between February and June, anticipates a large and widespread increase in private employment over the period. The WPA was a large and comprehensive organization. The residential programs were less effective than the student work programs. Everyone could enjoy opera and vaudeville; fiddle playing and contemporary art. Historic Events for Students: The Great Depression. While inequities existed under the programs, many women, African Americans and other marginalized groups found employment with the WPA. It provided employment as a way to help Americans (rather than offering direct payments). It was one of a group of New Deal arts programs known collectively as . At its height in late 1938, more than 3.3 million Americans worked for the WPA. President Roosevelt was a strong believer in work relief. In April 1939 the Dies Committee ordered the investigation of all Federal One projects and placed Representative Clifton Woodrum in charge of the committee. All sorts, of course. An Ornery Bunch: Tales and Anecdotes Collected by the WPA Montana Writers' Project, 19351942. The extraordinary contribution of the WPA workers significantly improved the infrastructure of the United States within a relatively short time. Federal One also established more than 100 community art centers throughout the country. Boston, MA: Little, Brown & co., 1993. I look forward to the day when many, many people from this region of the Nation are going to come here for skiing and tobogganing and various other forms of winter sports. February 2000, v. 34:17. The best known and most lasting of the works of art created under FAP were the murals painted in public buildings across the nation. Cahill's political skills and love of popular and folk art made him effective in gaining public support for a federally funded arts program. Criticism of the Public Works Administration. It takes up some of the slack between private jobs and supplies workers, through the U.S. Employment Service, whenever they can be employed in industry or agriculture . Most of the student workers worked out of their homes, but rural youth were moved to residential centers and trained in masonry, welding, baking, barbering, carpentry, and plumbing. How did debate over certain controversial art projects funded by the National Endowment for the Arts in the late twentieth century compare to debate of the WPA arts programs? From 1935 to 1943 the WPA provided millions of people with work and money during a very difficult time, however, it was never able to reach more than about one third of those eligible to receive its benefits. It remained under WPA jurisdiction until 1939, then the Federal Security Agency became its home until September 1943, when it dissolved. On the other side of the political spectrum came criticism from liberals. Many artists employed by the Federal Art Project would later become famous. They'd better be, for it takes a long time to get America straightened out. I am here to dedicate Timberline Lodge and I do so in the words of the bronze table directly in front of me on the coping of this wonderful building: "Timberline Lodge, Mount Hood National Forest, dedicated September 28, 1937, by the President of the United Communists also believed that a fundamental change in the ownership of business and wealth was both desirable and inevitable. 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