|
As the Great Depression deepened and families fell into poverty, many young people left home to fend for themselves. Youth unemployment spiraled to 30 percent. For many, finding work meant quitting school. Some saw few alternatives to joining gangs. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt anguished at the prospect of "losing this generation." Her advocacy for a National Youth Administration made education, vocational training and a paying job possible for millions of young men and women of all races, along with the opportunity to contribute to their communities and to the U.S. war effort, as well.
|
|
By Trudy Goldberg
No age group escaped hardship during the Great Depression, but the cohort served by the National Youth Administration—young men and women ages 16 to 25—was especially hard hit. When the NYA was inaugurated in 1935, an estimated five million of that age group were out of school and unemployed. READ MORE
|
|
By Susan Ives
Wolcott’s winning book, Living in the Future: Utopianism and the Long Civil Rights Movement, (University of Chicago Press, 2022), explores the New Deal’s influence on the leaders of the Civil Rights Movement. Her book was unanimously chosen among eleven works nominated for this year’s award. READ MORE |
|
 Our New Annual Report
America needs a New Deal!
With the help of our growing team and supporters like you, we are raising awareness of the importance of the New Deal—past and present. We believe we’re just hitting our stride! Check out the Living New Deal's achievements in our 2022 Annual Report. |
|
 Pomona College Benton Museum of Art
Claremont, California
Stanton Macdonald-Wright: Creation in Three Lines
April 19 – July 23, 2023
Late in his career, the artist Stanton Macdonald-Wright created his Haiga Portfolio--twenty illustrations to accompany his selection of haiku by six master practitioners of the Japanese haikai no renga form. This exhibition features the portfolio in its entirety. Macdonald-Wright was the director of the Southern California division of the Works Project Administration's Federal Art Project from 1935 to 1943, and personally completed several major civic art projects, including the murals in Santa Monica City Hall. MORE INFO
 The Living New Deal NYC Chapter and Municipal Art Society of NY
Walking Tour: "Central Park in the 1930s,” Manhattan
Saturday, May 6, 3pm-5pm
Jane’s Walk is an annual festival of free, community-led walking conversations inspired by the late urban activist Jane Jacobs. Tour leader Marco Baer will explore the many changes to Central Park during the 1930s and the evolving needs and ideas for Manhattan's largest park. The guided walk includes Hecksher Playground, Tavern on the Green, Rumsey Playfield, Michael Levin Playground, Great Lawn and Mariner's Playground. Meet at 3pm at Central Park's Merchant's Gate at Columbus Circle/59th Street & Central Park West.
MORE INFO: [email protected]
 Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, California
"Art for the People: WPA-Era Paintings from the Dijkstra Collection"
Through May 7, 2023
The exhibition focuses on representational painting created during the New Deal-era, which led to, and included, the government-sponsored WPA artworks of the 1930s and early 1940s. The exhibition travels to the Oceanside Museum of Art, June 24 through November 5, 2023, and The Huntington in San Marino, December 2, 2023 through March 18, 2024. MORE INFO
 Portland Art Museum, Portland, Oregon
"Dakota Modern: The Art of Oscar Howe”
Through May 14, 2023
Dakota Modern traces more than forty years of the artist’s career and development of his innovative and abstract approach to painting. Howe painted several murals while employed by the WPA. MORE INFO
The exhibition culminates its national tour in Howe’s home state at the South Dakota Art Museum in Brookings, June 10, 2023–September 17, 2023. An opening day celebration is free to the public. MORE INFO
 Cantor Arts Center, Stanford University
Palo Alto, California
"Reality Makes Them Dream: American Photography, 1929–1941”
March 29, 2023–July 30, 2023
This exhibition features the 1930s work of five artists, Ansel Adams, John Gutmann, Helen Levitt, Wright Morris and Edward Weston. Displayed among a diverse selection of photographs by their contemporaries, this material illuminates how American artists, including some employed by the New Deal’s art projects, used photography to spark the imagination.
 Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
“Work and Society in the 1930s: American Paintings and Photographs from the Shogren-Meyer Collection"
June 3-September 10, 2023 (preview reception, June 1)
"Work and Society in the 1930s" combines history and art through paintings and photographs portraying working Americans who experienced and implemented radical changes in the United States during the 1930s.
A Special Exhibition at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum
"Black Americans, Civil Rights and the Roosevelts, 1932-1962"
June 3, 2023—December 31, 2024
The exhibition offers critical perspectives on the racism and discrimination in American politics and culture of the era, featuring letters, political pamphlets, petitions, artworks, photographs and sound recordings from the Library’s collection. MORE INFO
|
|
 Happy Days Are Here Again
Signing the Beer and Wine Revenue Act in 1933 was part of FDR’s New Deal and one of his first actions as president. Later that year Congress and the states adopted the 21st Amendment repealing the 18th Amendment and ending Prohibition. Upon signing the legislation, FDR famously remarked, “I think this would be a good time for a beer!” READ MORE |
|
|
Tell Us About Your Favorite New Deal Site
 Beach Chalet
San Francico, California
City officials relocated the popular two-story Beach Chalet from Ocean Beach to the foot of Golden Gate Park in 1925 when storm waves nearly overtook the building. The Spanish Revival-style former bathhouse and snack bar today hosts a 180-degree view of the Pacific, craft beer and an amazement of New Deal artworks. From 1936-1937, WPA artists ornamented the capacious interior. Painter Lucien Labaudt added a 1,500 square-foot mural portraying scenes of the city and some of its renowned residents. READ MORE
Send us a first-person story of 100 (or so) words about your favorite New Deal site and why you chose it. Send your submissions to [email protected]. Thanks!
|
|
Some links may limit access for nonsubscribers. Please support local journalism, if you can.
Why FDR Limited FDIC Coverage
The objective was to protect depositors, not rich people and big companies.
By Aaron Klein
The Wall Street Journal, April 9, 2023
The Social Security Scare Story Industry
The idea that we are looking at some horror story down the road doesn’t make any sense, unless we think we are already living a horror story.
By Dean Baker
Center for Economic Policy and Research, April 1, 2023
First, Biden was FDR. Now he’s Clinton. (Spoiler alert: He’s neither.)
In 2021, Joe Biden was touted as a bold progressive president in the spirit of FDR. In 2023, he’s suddenly being cast as a center-hugging Bill Clinton.Here’s an alternative hypothesis: Maybe Joe Biden is just Joe Biden, and maybe it’s neither the 1930s nor the 1990s anymore.
By E.J. Dionne Jr.
Washington Post, March 19, 2023
Bailing Out the Undeserving Rich—Again
Public policies that emerged during the New Deal and World War II placed most economic risks on large corporations. Today, nearly one out of every five working Americans is in a part-time job. Two-thirds live paycheck to paycheck. Employment benefits have shriveled: The portion of workers with any pension connected to their job has fallen from just over half in 1979 to under 35 percent.
By Robert Reich
Common Dreams, March 20, 2023
|
|
“It is the obligation of education to train the minds and the talents of our youth; to improve, through creative citizenship, our American institutions in accord with the requirements of the future. We cannot always build the future for our youth, but we can build our youth for the future.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1940 address, University of Pennsylvania
YOUR DONATIONS KEEP THE NEW DEAL SPIRIT ALIVE.
The Living New Deal thanks you for your generous support!
|
|
|
|
|
