What Were the Federal Theater Project the Federal Writers Project and the Federal Art Project
by Kevin Thomas, Special Events Coordinator
The Great Depression left many Americans without jobs and subsequently, without identity. For artists, this was particularly serious. In response to this, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) established Federal Project Number One, to aid provide public employment for artists who had no recourse to ply their trades.
Inside Federal Projection Number I, programs were set up to provide work for artists in fields such as art, music, theater, and writing. This month marks the 85th Anniversary of the Federal Writers' Project (FWP). Established on July 27, 1935, the program provided work for thousands of writers and journalists, and produced publications ranging from the American Guide Series, to local histories, and children's books. FWP'southward Director, Henry Alsberg, also wanted to use the plan to help create a "cocky-portrait of America," and to that end he dedicated large efforts to gathering outset-person accounts of celebrated events, stories, folk-lore, and other significant intangible heritage, known as the "Life History and Folklore Projects." Many significant authors, poets, and photographers worked for the FWP, including many women and African-Americans, such equally Zora Neale Hurston, Ralph Ellison, Studs Terkel, May Swenson, Saul Blare, and Robert McNeill.
Perhaps the about significant projection that resulted from FWP, was the Slave Narrative Collection – a compilation of over two,300 outset person accounts from former slaves, across 17 states. While later criticized as providing a distorted and simplistic view of slavery and life on a plantation, the plan is credited with preserving a big volume of personal narratives on the subject, which would have otherwise been lost forever. The collection is housed today in the Library of Congress.
Of all the projects the FWP undertook, the nearly pop may have been the American Guide Serial. Published from 1937-1941, the American Guide Series was a collection of guidebooks for each land and major territory of the country (excluding Hawaii), as well as select regions and cities. They contained the subject's history, as well as descriptions of its culture, major cities, also every bit travel interests such equally sightseeing tours and photographs. For many Americans, they were the window into the nation, and provided a gateway to seeing America, either past car, or in their home. They were the almost comprehensive account of the United States ever assembled co-ordinate to writer John Steinbeck.
The Federal Writers' Project, forth with its parent, Federal Project Number One, began to fade by 1939, with some projects being cancelled or divested from the federal government. The program, along with the other components of Federal Project Number I, had fallen under accusations of communist action and sympathy by the House Committee on United nations-American Activities (HUAC). Alsberg would exist fired and the FWP would shift to state sponsorship, continuing until 1943 as the Author'due south Plan.
Over the class of its existence, the FWP published hundreds of major publications, and would employ thousands of Americans during the Neat Depression, many of whom would become on to shape the American literary landscape. The programs of Federal Project Number One, and the FWP, also provided Americans at the time, with access to the arts, and delivered much needed inspiration and entertainment, in a decade of volatility.
The legacy of the FWP can still be felt today. Scholars take benefitted from the first person accounts preserved by the FWP and many pregnant works of literature followed from FWP employees, including Ralph Ellison's Invisible Homo (1952).
While far from the most remembered New Deal Program, the Federal Writers' Project remains a notable office of America'south story.
Source: https://fdr.blogs.archives.gov/2020/07/14/the-federal-writers-project/
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