PATRON + I wonder how many Alabamians could tell similar stories from the 1930s

Very good story.

The Work Projects Administration was the largest & most ambitious American New Deal agency, employing millions of people to carry out public works projects.

My father, Alston Branscomb (1917-2012} from Midway (Bullock Co.), Ala. shared his recollections in his book: “Come Laugh With Me” ISBN 978-1-4628-8658-6 . He wrote:

“I worked for the Work Projects Administration, WPA. Our project was to teach farm ladies how to preserve food by canning it.”

In her Federal Writers’ Project Interview, Mrs. D. H. Pressley mentioned Dewey working in the CCC. Alston also had recollections of the CCC:

During the days of the Citizen Conservation Corp., CCC, there were work camps on the outskirts of Midway. I carried to them fresh vegetables and watermelons for sale, walking, since we never had a car. I enjoyed hearing this call for the water boy, expressed in a melodious chant: “Water Jack! He done gone and’s half-way back!”

In those days, the unemployed, homeless, etc. weren’t just given an unemployment check, they were given a job. Since there often were not enough jobs for everybody, it was joked that sometimes the foremen had some men dig holes, and others fill them. Since it was obvious to the men that this was “make work,” there was much “gold bricking.” A foreman sent a requisition to the warehouse for one dozen long-handled shovels. The requisition was returned with this message on the back: “We are out of shovels. Have the workers lean on each other!” (Anon.)

Your article on “The Moundville Archaelogical Park is a National Historic Landmark” includes “The Civilian Conservation Corps restored the mounds during the Great Depression and constructed a museum.”
http://www.alabamapioneers.com/moundville-archaelogical-park-a-true-treasure-in-alabama/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Daily%20Alabama%20Pioneers&utm_content=Daily%20Alabama%20Pioneers+CID_fbec355a4b1b1d9a228000e714df7c39&utm_source=Email%20marketing%20software&utm_term=Read%20More

Eugenia [email protected]

Donnyandfatima Price they did good work also still standing today