THE WPA/FSA
Raven Mrozek
During the Great Depression, the Roosevelt Administration provided two outlets for relieve for artist unemployment, one being the Works Progress Administration - WPA and the other Farm Security Administration - FSA. The WPA was the first program funded by the Roosevelt Administration. WPA funded a huge amount of work all over the country to support unemployed artists. In return for government finding, artists donated roughly 20-25 prints to institutions across the countries (schools/libraries/etc).
The FSA was known for documenting development in American West. Initially the Administration was created to document the use cash loans that were given to farmers through the Resettlement Administration, and later expanded to include migrant laborers and southern sharecroppers. The intention of the FSA was to improve agricultural environments and farming techniques, to prevent dust bowl drought and displacement from happening again. The FSA became known for its information division which was run by Roy Stryker whose mission was to create a photo documentary project discussing the struggles American farmers were facing and the government’s efforts to provide relief.
One of the most iconic photograph or the Dust bowl, Migrant Mother, was taken by Dorthea Lang who was one of the 13 photographers in the FSA. This photographer's image caused a lot of ethical unrest due to the mass production of this heart wrenching image. When the mother in the image was interviewed years later, she expressed that had she knows how the picture was going to be used, she would never have allowed Dorthea Lang to take her picture in the first place.
I found the FSA and WPA to be very impactful. America was lucky to have these research projects funded by the government. In the end, the FSA produced 164,000 developed negatives, 77,000 printed images for the press, and 644 colored images.
R, it was impossible to edit without taking text off and then replacing it, the photos were too small and I had to remove them. I don't know where you got them, but they were overall too small. sorry, but you will have to reload them.
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