"Rise or fall, we'll always be together, indivisibly."
In its eight years of existence, the WPA changed the face of America. Hundreds of thousands of miles of road, innumerable public buildings, bridges, airports, and seaports – the very national infrastructure that we know today – was built by the WPA. We're used to having accessible open spaces nearby because the WPA created so many public parks and recreational facilities. The WPA's Federal Project Nmber One, including the Federal Arts Project, Federal Writers Project, Federal Theatre Project, and Federal Music Project fostered a greater appreciation for the arts and humanities through thousands of publicly accessible paintings, writings, plays, and music. The Federal Writers project, along with the WPA's Historical Records Survey also captured living history, from the stories of migrant workers to the narratives of former slaves, and created interest in the preservation of historical records nationwide.
We live in a politically divisive time; our conversations about wealth, poverty, and the availability of opportunity are not unlike those of the 1930s. Working for the common good feels like a quite uncommon occurence, and the very words "social justice" and "progressive agenda" strike fear in the hearts of some people. Perhaps we can argue the politics and economics of the WPA; we can argue about its ultimate place in stimulating a recovery from the Great Depression. But one thing remains indisputable, both in the historical record and in the stories collected by COSACOSA for the Spare A Dime project: the WPA built the America we take for granted today. And even more importantly, the WPA gave the country hope in a time of hopelessness. It offered opportunity – the possibility of a better life where there was none before – to millions of Americans. It made us work together.
We live in a politically divisive time; our conversations about wealth, poverty, and the availability of opportunity are not unlike those of the 1930s. Working for the common good feels like a quite uncommon occurence, and the very words "social justice" and "progressive agenda" strike fear in the hearts of some people. Perhaps we can argue the politics and economics of the WPA; we can argue about its ultimate place in stimulating a recovery from the Great Depression. But one thing remains indisputable, both in the historical record and in the stories collected by COSACOSA for the Spare A Dime project: the WPA built the America we take for granted today. And even more importantly, the WPA gave the country hope in a time of hopelessness. It offered opportunity – the possibility of a better life where there was none before – to millions of Americans. It made us work together.
RSS Feed