The Infinite Dividend: The WPA · Episode 10 of 13 · 37 min
A Fairer Share, Unevenly Given: The WPA and the Color Line
The WPA delivered more to Black Americans than any earlier federal program, with equal posted wages, a working target tied to population share, and leaders like Mary McLeod Bethune. Yet because it ran through local officials, Southern administrators bent it to Jim Crow through job assignment, firing and enrollment.
Who's who
- Harry Hopkins+10 more episodesWPA administrator who set wage-equality policy and a proportional target
- Mary McLeod BethuneEducator who headed the NYA's Division of Negro Affairs
- Aubrey WilliamsWhite Alabamian who directed the NYA and allied with Bethune
- Robert C. WeaverAdviser in the Black Cabinet network
- William H. HastieAdviser in the Black Cabinet network
Timeline
- April 8, 1935The Emergency Relief Appropriation Act authorizes the WPA with anti-discrimination language
- 1935The National Youth Administration is created within the WPA
- 1936Bethune is appointed to lead the NYA's Division of Negro Affairs and convenes the Black Cabinet
- 1936-1942The Writers' Project records the Slave Narratives; Negro Theatre Units employ Black artists
- June 30, 1943The WPA is liquidated
Still debated
Equal posted wages coexisted with unequal job classification, so equal wage policy did not mean an equal share. Sources describe the ten percent target differently, and the number of Black households reached is only an order-of-magnitude estimate.
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