INTERACTIVE MEDIA

View interactive maps depicting public works projects, Hoovervilles, Civilian Conservation Corps camps, and murals produced in the state during the New Deal.

Browse collections of photographs, paintings, newsreels, and films chronicling the Depression years, including photographs from Dorothea Lange in the Yakima Valley, the Federal Theatre Project, and the Works Progress Administration.

Explore a day-by-day database of more than 600 strikes, protests, campaigns, and labor political initiatives occurring in the state of Washington from 1930 through 1938, culled from state labor newspapers.

Here are short biographical sketches of two dozen political leaders, editors, artists, and activists who were influential in Washington State in the 1930s:

ECONOMICS & POVERTY: introduction

The nationwide banking crisis of 1933, brought on by corruption, customer loan defaults, and an unstable banking system brought first state-wide and then nation-wide bank closures in 1933. Seattleites developed different strategies for surviving without cash, while Roosevelt and Congress stabilized American capitalism and preserved public faith in American finance.

Washington's tax system proved inadequate to the growing needs of Washington State's infrastructure. The 1930s saw a broad-based movement for an income tax in the state, led by rural farmers in the Washington State Grange. Stiff political opposition prevented the adoption of an income tax, which it still does not have today and which constrains public spending and social services.

HOOVERVILLES & HOMELESSNESS: introduction

"Hoovervilles," shanty towns of unemployed men, sprung up all over the nation, named after President Hoover's insufficient relief during the crisis. Seattle's developed into a self-sufficient and organized town-within-a-town.

Seattle's Hooverville and its residents were portrayed as violent, exotic, and separate from the rest of Seattle, obscuring the social accomplishments and self-organization of shantytown residents.

Seattle's decision to raze Hooverville in 1941 and expel its residents relied on a discourse of "otherness" that set Hooverville economically, socially, and geographically apart.

STRIKES & UNIONS: introduction

The founding of an AFT-affiliated faculty union at the University of Washington allowed faculty job security and redress during the economic crisis. Yet the radical and sometimes Communist politics of its members made the union susceptible to federal anti-Communist repression by the 1940s.

The Industrial Workers of the World had led the organization of farmworkers in Washington's Yakima Valley. On August 24, 1933, strikers faced 250 farmers, organized as a militia to put down the incipient union organizing among fieldworkers.

The 1934 longshore strike up and down the West Coast was one of the most explosive and successful strikes during the Depression. An analysis of three Seattle newspapers here shows the shifts in news coverage for and against the strike.

In 1936, two leaders of the Filipino Cannery Workers' and Farm Labor Union were shot to death, weakening the union but also providing the fragmented Filipino community with a cause to unite behind.

As the timber workers' 1935 strike became more and more controversial, The Seattle Star became less supportive in their coverage of the issue, leading workers' to develop their own newspaper.

A special section of the Waterfront Workers History Project, with photographs, films, research reports, and documents from the strike.

A multi-part in-depth essay, drawing from rare archives, of the 1934 longshore strike in Seattle and Tacoma.

The 1933 battle between organizing farmworkers and farm owners was part of a long history of farmworker organizing in Washington's Yakima Valley, as well as efforts by radicals to form unions in the region.

POLITICS: introduction

The left/labor political coalition launched a 1936 electoral campaign to challenge the right wing, anti-New Deal Democrats in Washington State, as well as advocate radical propoerty redistribution and social insurance policies.

The civil rights policies of the Washington Commonwealth Federation, a labor/left political coalition, mirrored the zigzags of the international Communist Party's politics, swerving from defending them to silence around Japanese American internment in World War II.

The conservative New Order of Cincinnatus, an anti-corruption and pseudo-fascist men's political organization, fostered conservative politicians who would revitalize the state Republican Party in the late 1930s to challenge the Democratic New Deal.

This paper analyzes the desire for political change on the cusp of FDR's election, analyzing Seattle-area newspapers.

Prohibition failed to control the production, consumption, and enjoyment of alcohol in Seattle and the entire "wet coast."

PUBLIC WORKS: introduction

Funding from the Works Progress Administration allowed the completion of the Grand Coulee Dam in central Washington, one of the most dramatic ways the New Deal rebuilt Washington's infrastructure.

Mason City, WA was built by federal New Deal funds and private contractors to house the workers and families who were building the Grand Coulee Dam, and was consciously promoted as an example of the social vision, technological capacity, and high standard of living that New Deal America aspired to.

An interactive map of New Deal projects in King county from 1933-1934.

An interactive map of major New Deal construction projects in Washington State during the 1930s.

An interactive map of Civilian Conservation Corps camps in Washington from 1930-1939.

RADICALISM: introduction

The changes in Soviet foreign policy heavily influenced the foreign policy of the Washington Commonwealth Federation, leading to successes and losses in state politics and public influence.

Washington's Communist Party was central to two broader political formations that reshaped state politics, reform, and social services.

The civil rights policies of the Washington Commonwealth Federation, a labor/left political coalition, mirrored the zigzags of the international Communist Party's politics, swerving from defending them to silence around Japanese American internment in World War II.

The labor/radical reform coalition, the Washington Commonwealth Federation, organized an "anti-fascist" boycott against Japanese goods as part of an effort to oppose Japanese imperial expansion into China. However, this stance bled into anti-Japanese sentiment that would culminate in the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II.

Nearly seventy men volunteered to fight with the Abraham Lincoln Brigades during the Spanish Civil War of 1936-1937. on the side of the democratically elected Spanish government against Franco's fascists. This paper surveys the political attitudes and backgrounds of those volunteers, with an emphasis on University of Washington students who enlisted.

The left/labor political coalition launched a 1936 electoral campaign to challenge the right wing, anti-New Deal Democrats in Washington State, as well as advocate radical propoerty redistribution and social insurance policies.

Read a history of the newspaper of the Washington Commonwealth Federation, a left-labor-communist political coalition that reshaped state politics during the Depression.

The New Dealer was the final paper, from 1938-1942, of the radical-labor political coalition, the Washington commonwealth Federation.

The founding of an AFT-affiliated faculty union at the University of Washington allowed faculty job security and redress during the economic crisis. Yet the radical and sometimes Communist politics of its members made the union susceptible to federal anti-Communist repression by the 1940s.

The Voice of Action portrayed Soviet Russia as a model for an antifascist workers' republic.

As elsewhere in the country, Washington State's Communist Party helped to organize the unemployed into active political and social formations. In Washington, the Unemployed Citizen's League and its newspaper, The Vanguard, gained the state Communists a broad appeal, and integrated the unemployed into the state's radical reform coalitions.

This paper traces the Washington Communist Party's attempts--and successes--in organizing unions during the 1930s and 1940s.

Pritchett, a Communist, became president of the combative timber union on the West Coast, but was eventually denied re-entry to the US because of his red politics.

In the summer of 1931 a group of Seattle residents organized to establish self-help enterprises and demand that government officials create jobs and increase relief assistance to unemployed.

This interactive map shows the Seattle locations of the the Unemployed Citizens League which established self-help commissaries and demanded jobs and relief services for the unemployed.

The Unemployed Citizen's League, a radical organization of unemployed men, put out two newspapers during the Depression Years.

Right-Wing Radicalism and Fascism:

The conservative New Order of Cincinnatus, an anti-corruption and pseudo-fascist men's political organization, fostered conservative politicians who would revitalize the state Republican Party in the late 1930s to challenge the Democratic New Deal.

The Fish Committee hearings in 1930s Seattle were a preface to the anti-communist trials of the late 1940s and 1950s.

This paper traces the changing newspaper coverage in the Seattle Times of Hitler's rise to power, paralleling the federal government's own policies of initial support and lack of concern over reports of Nazi Germany's attacks on civil liberties.

Radical Newspapers:

The Voice of Action was a radical labor newspaper published in Seattle between 1933 and 1936. This paper traces its never-official links to the politics of the Communist Party and its commitments to workers and the unemployed.

The Voice of Action portrayed Soviet Russia as a model for an antifascist workers' republic.

As the timber workers' 1935 strike became more and more controversial, The Seattle Star became less supportive in their coverage of the issue, leading workers' to develop their own newspaper.

The Voice of Action was a newspaper for Seattle's radical and labor movements, published between 1933 and 1936.

The Unemployed Citizen's League, a radical organization of unemployed men, put out two newspapers during the Depression Years.

Read a history of the newspaper of the Washington Commonwealth Federation, a left-labor-communist political coalition that reshaped state politics during the Depression.

The New Dealer was the final paper, from 1938-1942, of the radical-labor political coalition, the Washington commonwealth Federation.

The Chronicle was the paper of the Filipino-led cannery workers' union, as well as a source of progressive news for the Filipino and labor communities in Seattle.

The striking employees of the Seattle Post Intelligencer, produced The Guild Daily during the 105 day strike against the Hearst-owned newspaper in 1936.

Born in the midst of the 1935 timber strike, the Timber Worker was the union newspaper of the International Woodworkers of America, based in Aberdeen, WA.

The Longshoremen began one year after the 1934 longshore strike, as the official newspaper of the International Longshoremen's Association.

The voice of Boeing workers in Local 751 of the International Association of Machinists, Aero Mechanic was founded in 1939 and has been published ever since.

Established in 1939, The Bellingham Labor News was the official publication of the Bellingham Central Labor Council.  It was published weekly until 1968 when it merged with other Northwest labor newspapers to become the Northwest Washington Labor News.

CIVIL RIGHTS: introduction

Two anti-miscegenation bills proposed during the 1930s were successfully blocked by protest and political activism among the Northwest's communities of color, including Filipino Americans.

The police murder of a Seattle African American man during the Depression led to a successful civil rights lawsuit in the Supreme Court.

The labor/radical reform coalition, the Washington Commonwealth Federation, organized an "anti-fascist" boycott against Japanese goods as part of an effort to oppose Japanese imperial expansion into China. However, this stance bled into anti-Japanese sentiment that would culminate in the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II.

Litchman was one of Washington's most ardent legal defenders of labor radicals and civil rights advocates. Throughout his long career he defended IWWs and other radicals while fighting for Socialism and civil rights.

The civil rights policies of the Washington Commonwealth Federation, a labor/left political coalition, mirrored the zigzags of the international Communist Party's politics, swerving from defending them to silence around Japanese American internment in World War II.

During the Depression, many Japanese Americans in the Northwest began to embrace both Japanese and American cultures, nurtured cross-cultural social life, carved out economic sectors for themselves, and created political organizations with active participation in local cities and towns.

How did Jewish women in Seattle negotiate the Great Depression? An investigation of the Seattle Jewish Transcript offers some indications. The newspaper reinforced traditional understandings of women as wives and mothers while also stressing the importance of education, up to a point.

Two anti-miscegenation bills proposed during the 1930s were blocked by an activist coalition of African Americans, Filipino Americans, and progressives.

Seattle's Jewish community sought out several strategies for responding to Anti-Semitism during the Great Depression through their newspaper.

The second generation of Japanese immigrants, the Japanese American Nisei, used civic organizations and Seattle's ethnic newspapers to create a fully American identity for themselves in response to anti-Asian sentiment.

Depression-era labor policies did not allow married women to hold jobs, favoring a husband's work. Prof. Lea Miller at the UW was fired, and sparked a national protest over the policy.

Read the history of the first Filipino-led labor union in the United States, based in Seattle.

This paper traces the civil rights campaigns of the Washington State Communist Party during the Depression years.

Velasco was the central figure in Filipino American journalism in the Northwest. This paper traces his political evolution toward progressive politics.

Frank Jenkins was one of the first non-white members of the ILWU, and advocated for increased civil rights within the labor movement.

Revels Cayton was the most prominent African American communist, labor leader, and activist in the Northwest during the 1930s and 1940s.

UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON: introduction

Student life during the Depression was changed by budget cuts and tuition rates, yet there was a thriving athletic, social, and cultural atmosphere on campus.

The founding of an AFT-affiliated faculty union at the University of Washington allowed faculty job security and redress during the economic crisis. Yet the radical and sometimes Communist politics of its members made the union susceptible to federal anti-Communist repression by the 1940s.

Female students in the 1930s challenged accepted ideas of women's education, participation in college athletics, and domestic and social responsibilities.

Depression-era labor policies did not allow married women to hold jobs, favoring a husband's work. Prof. Lea Miller at the UW was fired, and sparked a national protest over the policy.

Nearly seventy men volunteered to fight with the Abraham Lincoln Brigades during the Spanish Civil War of 1936-1937. on the side of the democratically elected Spanish government against Franco's fascists. This paper surveys the political attitudes and backgrounds of those volunteers, with an emphasis on University of Washington students who enlisted.

CULTURE AND THE ARTS: introduction

Ginther produced more than 80 paintings. They are a unique resource, depicting the rough life of Hoovervilles and homeless men, of jails and soup kitchens, unemployed demonstrations and police attacks, strikes and radical protests.

The Jameses founded the Seattle Repertory Playhouse and played a crucial role in the development of the Federal Theatre Project in the state, as well as reimagining the role of theatre in Washington.

Movie houses found a variety of ways to bring people to the cinema during the Depression, from special bargain nights and promotions to new escapistf film genres.

Hollywood and Washington State formed a mutually beneficial relationship during the 1930s, as Hollywood films brought tourism and job opportunities to Washington and used its settings to portray the Alaskan Yukon or to stand in for the rural West.

Seattle's jazz scene flourished in the 1920s and 1930s, particularly in the multiracial neighborhood culture of the Central District and Jackson St.

Social Documentary photography Dorothea Lange visited Washington's Yakima Valley in 1939 to chronicle rural farm life and migrant families during the Depression.

Seattle's Communist Party newspaper relied on woodcut artist Richard Correll for many of its illustrations. Correll art was stark and unforgettable. He could narrate a strike or detail a militant political position in a single 4 inch by 5 inch image.

EVERYDAY LIFE: introduction

Whatcom County residents developed new social and familial roles in response to economic hardship.

Crime was one way Seattle residents dealt with the Great Depression.

Seattle rallied around its sports teams and prospective Olympic athletes as a symbol of community life and leisure during the Depression, despite loss of funds for many sports programs.

A statistical sample of consumer advertising from 1928-1935 in the Seattle Times.

During the Depression, many Japanese Americans in the Northwest began to embrace both Japanese and American cultures, nurtured cross-cultural social life, carved out economic sectors for themselves, and created political organizations with active participation in local cities and towns

Prohibition failed to control the production, consumption, and enjoyment of alcohol in Seattle and the entire "wet coast."

Seattle's Jewish community sought out several strategies for responding to Anti-Semitism during the Great Depression through their newspaper.

Mason City, WA was built by federal New Deal funds and private contractors to house the workers and families who were building the Grand Coulee Dam, and was consciously promoted as an example of the social vision, technological capacity, and high standard of living that New Deal America aspired to.

Like other resource dependent communities in Washington State, the town of Raymond struggled during the Great Depression. A local newspaper, the Raymond Advertiser, chronicled the challenges of the 1930's, while also striving to maintain optimism and consumer confidence among local residents.

During the early years of the Great Depression, many communities in Washington State and across the nation struggled to survive economically. In Kitsap County, however, residents were able to rely upon a network of strong local businesses as well as a productive agricultural sector to help weather the finacial storm.

VISUAL ARTS: introduction

The most ambitious of the New Deal visual arts programs, the Federal Art Project emphasized work relief for artists as well as public education and documentation of folk traditions. In Washington State, it employed dozens of men and women in diverse pursuits such as easel painting, mural painting, sculpture, teaching, model making and more.

The first visual arts program launched during the Great Depression, the Public Works of Art Project employed more than 3,000 artists nationwide including 50 in Washington State. It established an important precedent regarding federal government support for the arts and served as a model for later initiatives.

Centrally managed by the Treasury Department in Washington, D.C. the Section commissioned thousands of murals, wood carvings and sculptures for public buildings, including post offices, court houses and federal agency headquarters in the capital. As a result of its presence in small and large communities, this program's work is perhaps the best known of any New Deal visual arts initiative.

This google interactive map marks the location of the 18 Washington State post offices that housed art commissioned by the Section. Common motifs include agriculture, logging and western history, featuring images of both Euro-American settlers and Native peoples. For more information on the Treasury program, please see the research report "The Section of Painting and Sculpture in Washington State,"

In addition to providing gainful employment to thousands of unemployed artists, the Federal Art Project (FAP) also stressed art education through community art centers as one of its primary objectives. One of the most successful sites, hosting lthousands of visitors and hundreds of classes, was located in Spokane, Washington.

THEATRE ARTS: introduction

The FTP in Washington was one of the most vibrant in the country, including the Negro Repertory Unit, Living Newspaper theatre journalism, a Children's Unit, and hosted traveling productions to New Deal public works programs around the state.

Outside of New York City, Washington's FTP hosted the only all-African American company in the nation, who produced three plays: Stevedore, about a longshore strike; an all-black production of Lysistrata, which was closed down for its "scandalous" scenes; and a production written by the Negro Unit based on the life of poet Paul Laurence Dunbar.

This play about a longshoremen's strike brought white and black actors together onstage to portray the tenuous racial solidarities produced by labor struggle, and brought the fledgling NRC national recognition.

The NRC developed an all-African American production of Aristophanes' classic political comedy, which produced a controversy between the national and local Federal Theatre Project leadership, and also displayed the paternalistic approach FTP officials held toward the Negro Repertory Company.

NRC members collaboratively developed this production, based on the life of poet Paul Lawrence Dunbar.

The Jameses founded the Seattle Repertory Playhouse and played a crucial role in the development of the Federal Theatre Project in the state, as well as reimagining the role of theatre in Washington.

The Jameses founded the Seattle Repertory Playhouse and played a crucial role in the development of the Federal Theatre Project in the state, as well as reimagining the role of theatre in Washington.

These productions combined theatre with journalism, and brought regional controversies to life, including battles over public and private power; the regulation of syphilis; and immigration.

This Living Newspaper production, dramatizing New Deal debates between private and publicly-owned utilities, resonated with Seattle residents who were debating between the private Puget Power Company and the public Seattle City Light.

The Washington Federal Theatre Project's longest-running production, a Living Newspaper, advocated for government-sponsored housing.

This Living Newspaper presented the history of syphilis and intervened in debates about venereal disease prevention in Seattle.