Skip to main content

United States. Works Progress Administration

 Organization

Biography

The Works Progress Administration was a government agency involved in public works programs. The agency was established in 1935 as part of the New Deal, and employed millions of Americans. The program was renamed the Work Projects Administration in 1939.

Citation:
Encylopedia Brittanica, via www, February 2, 2022 (The Works Progress Administration was a government agency involved in public works programs. The agency was established in 1935 as part of the New Deal, and employed millions of Americans. The program was renamed the Work Projects Administration in 1939)

Found in 55 Collections and/or Records:

T. Pat Matthews interview with Kitty Hall

 File — Folder 1: [Barcode: 31197230345933]
Identifier: MSS 2904
Scope and Contents

Photocopy of a microfilmed copy of a typescript of an interview. Hill was interviewed by T. Pat Matthews in 1937 as part of the Federal Writer's Project for the Works Progress Administration. The item includes handwritten corrections. Hill shares information related to her by her mother. His mother claimed that she was treated well except by "patterollers," and tells of the Yankees at the planatation. Hill also tells about the Ku Klux Klan.

Dates: 1937

T. Pat Matthews interview with Lizzie Baker

 File — Folder 1: [Barcode: 31197230345859]
Identifier: MSS 2881
Scope and Contents

Photocopy of a microfilmed copy of a typescript of an interview. Baker was interviewed by T. Pat Matthews in 1937 as part of the Federal Writer's Project for the Works Progress Administration. The item includes handwritten corrections. Baker relates stories about her parents' desires for freedom and attempts to escape from slavery. She tells about siblings she never met because they were sold away, and she expresses great love for President Franklin Roosevelt.

Dates: 1937

T. Pat Matthews interview with Louisa Covington Adams

 File — Folder 1: [Barcode: 31197230346253]
Identifier: MSS 2865
Scope and Contents Photocopy of a microfilmed copy of the typescript of an interview. Adams was interviewed by T. Pat Matthews on 7 June 1937 as part of a Works Progress Administration assignment. Adams tells about her experiences as a slave in North Carolina. Adams said that she was treated poorly, given little food, and few clothes. Slaves were not allowed to have fun, learn to read and write, or to go to church. They were given no holidays and were forced to work even after being badly whipped. She...
Dates: 1937 June 7

T. Pat Matthews interview with Margaret E. Dickens

 File — Folder 1: [Barcode: 31197230346436]
Identifier: MSS 2934
Scope and Contents

Photocopy of a microfilmed copy of a typescript of an interview. Dickens was interviewed by T. Pat Matthews in 1937 as part of the Federal Writer's Project for the Works Progress Administration. The item includes handwritten corrections.

Dates: 1937

T. Pat Matthews interview with Mary Brodie Anderson

 File — Folder 1: [Barcode: 31197230346139]
Identifier: MSS 2869
Scope and Contents Photocopy of a microfilmed copy of a typescript of an interview. Anderson was interviewed by T. Pat Matthews in 1937 as part of a Federal Writer's Project assignment for the Works Progress Administration. The item includes handwritten corrections. Anderson says that she was treated well as a slave. The slave children were allowed to eat with the master and family on Sundays. The slaves were well fed, well clothed, and had comfortable houses. The slave children loved and trusted their master,...
Dates: 1937

T. Pat Matthews interview with Robert Glenn

 File — Folder 1: [Barcode: 31197230345925]
Identifier: MSS 2905
Scope and Contents Photocopy of a microfilmed copy of a typescript of an interview. Glenn was interviewed by T. Pat Matthews in 1937 as part of the Federal Writer's Project for the Works Progress Administration. The item includes handwritten corrections. Glenn gives a detailed account of how, at the age of 8 years, his master sold him away from his parents. His new master then took him to Kentucky, where his master's son taught him to read and write. After emancipation, he worked and saved his money until...
Dates: 1937

T. Pat Matthews interview with Robert Hinton

 File — Folder 1: [Barcode: 31197230346907]
Identifier: MSS 2911
Scope and Contents

Photocopy of a microfilmed copy of a typescript of an interview. Hinton was interviewed by T. Pat Matthews in 1937 as part of the Federal Writer's Project for the Works Progress Administration. Hinton describes life on the plantation. He says that his master treated him well, and he talks about how he hunted, farmed, and entertained himself while a slave. He also describes his hardships at the time of the interview.

Dates: 1937

T. Pat Matthews interview with Thomas Hall

 File — Folder 1: [Barcode: 31197230346022]
Identifier: MSS 2903
Scope and Contents Photocopy of a microfilmed copy of a typescript of an interview. Hall was interviewed by T. Pat Matthews in 1937 as part of the Federal Writer's Project for the Works Progress Administration. The item includes handwritten corrections. Hall explains that the terrible conditions slaves were forced to endure were similar to the conditions free blacks endured after emancipation. He says that "white folks are and always will be against the negro." Hall adds that any good done by the white...
Dates: 1937

T. Pat Matthews interview with W. Solomon Debnam

 File — Folder 1: [Barcode: 31197230346451]
Identifier: MSS 2932
Scope and Contents

Photocopy of a microfilmed copy of a typescript of an interview. Debnam was interviewed by T. Pat Matthews in 1937 as part of the Federal Writer's Project for the Works Progress Administration. The item includes handwritten corrections. Most of what Debnam knew about slavery was told to him by his parents. He remembered when the Yankees came and talked about the master's son teaching him how to read.

Dates: 1937

T. Pat Matthews interview with William George Hinton

 File — Folder 1: [Barcode: 31197230346972]
Identifier: MSS 2912
Scope and Contents

Photocopy of a microfilmed copy of a typescript of an interview. Hinton was interviewed by T. Pat Matthews in 1937 as part of the Federal Writer's Project for the Works Progress Administration. Hinton tells of how Yankee soldiers threatened his sister's life. He also describes the hardships of slavery on his master's plantation and the difficulties of other slaves on other plantations.

Dates: 1937