Document 23-4: Michigan Artist Alfred Castagne Sketching WPA Construction Workers (1939)

FDR’s New Deal Programs in Action

Michigan Artist Alfred Castagne Sketching WPA Construction Workers (1939)

Roosevelt’s New Deal embraced several aims as it evolved, but a central focus was finding jobs for the unemployed. The 1933 Public Works Administration (PWA) funded municipal projects including the building of roads, dams, bridges, and schools, funneling federal money to states and localities to hire workers. Two years later, Roosevelt created the Works Progress Administration (WPA), which funded similar projects and programs, such as the Federal Art Project and the Federal Writers’ Project, which employed artists, novelists, and actors. This image, by an unknown photographer, depicts both programs at work.

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Source: Michigan Artist Alfred Castagne Sketching WPA Construction Workers, Unknown Photographer (May 19, 1939), National Archives, Records of the Work Projects Administration (69-AG-410).

READING AND DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

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