What was the Great Depression?

The Onset of the Great Depression

The infamous Wall Street Crash of 1929 was a major sign of the US and global economies’ collapse into an economic depression. At the outset, some expected the economic crisis to last (at the very worst) a whole year—including publisher Henry Luce. However, the stock market crash marked the beginning of a decade of deep financial struggle for American society.

Initially, the federal government did little to intervene in the crisis or to help millions of Americans impacted. Unemployment began to skyrocket, and millions were plunged into poverty over the course of the next two years. Panic among everyday people that they would lose their money caused bank runs, in turn causing thousands of small and local banks to fail. Unemployment rates peaked in 1933 when 1 in 4 Americans were out of work.

Exhibit Navigation
1: Introduction
2: Ernest Hamlin Baker
3: Great Depression & New Deal
4: Treasury Section of Fine Arts
5: Baker’s Commission & Research
6: Slavery in Southern Rhode Island
7: Baker’s Artistic Process
8: The Finished Mural
9: Wakefield Post Office
10: Why the Mural Matters
11. Share Your Thoughts
12. Further Reading

The Depression Hits Rhode Island

Rhode Island was particularly susceptible to the horrors of the Depression. Prior to the stock market crash, Rhode Island was a heavily industrialized state, with over 50% of working age laborers being associated with industrial work. As the Depression struck, consumer demand plummeted and manufacturers either stopped or drastically reduced production. As a result, Rhode Island’s unemployment rate was one of the highest in the country, similar to other industrialized states like Michigan and Pennsylvania.

Unfortunately, the State’s initial response to the Depression did little to help its residents. In fact, when federal aid was given to states in 1931, then-Governor Case refused any federal money, saying, “Rhode Island will provide for its own.” Instead town and city-led programs for job, food, and fuel aid were implemented, but they were simply not enough. A 1932 canvas of the state (considered the worst year of the Great Depression) found 32% of working age people in Rhode Island were unemployed.

In Washington County, textile and related industries had been in decline since the beginning of the 20th century, and this decline continued during the Depression. Although southern Rhode Island’s economy was more diverse than just the textile industry, the Depression economically strained the community.

One place that was particularly hard-hit was the South County Hospital, which was only in operation for 11 years at the time of the crash. Patients were unable to pay their bills, and the hospital had severe budget deficits. In 1933, area residents formed the volunteer Hospital Auxiliary to collect supplies and raise funds. With the community’s support, this important local institution survived.

What was the New Deal?

Addressing the Economic Crisis: The New Deal

In the early years of the Depression, federal and state government efforts were ineffective at slowing—and sometimes even worsened—economic decline and rolling bank crises. Americans expressed their dissatisfaction at the ballot box in 1932, resulting in a wave of Democratic candidates elected, including Franklin Delano Roosevelt who defeated the incumbent president, Herbert Hoover.

Between 1933 and 1935, President Roosevelt worked with Congress to address the economic hardships Americans faced and to establish financial reforms. The agencies, policies, programs, and projects they created, commonly known as the “New Deal,” had a profound influence and legacy in American society. The products and legacies of the New Deal touched every corner of the county.

The New Deal in Rhode Island

In Rhode Island, Governor Norman S. Case was voted out of office in 1932, and Democrats would take control of the state’s politics during the so-called “Bloodless Revolution” a few years later. When Governor Theodore F. Green was sworn into office in 1933, he promptly reversed the policy of refusing federal aid. With the cooperation of the state government and federal programs, a massive number of public works projects were implemented throughout Rhode Island during the subsequent decade. Hospital buildings, veterans’ homes, an airport hangar (now named in Green’s honor), dorms, water works, URI buildings, a beach pavilion, sidewalks, harbor and park improvements, arts projects, 671 miles of highways, 35 bridges, and 220 school buildings were the result of 106+ million hours of Rhode Islanders’ hard work on New Deal-funded projects in the 1930s.

Today, Rhode Islanders continue to benefit from New Deal projects, such as Eleanor Roosevelt Hall at the University of Rhode Island. Built as the first women’s dormitory at URI, the building was dedicated by First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt herself in 1938. Not all New Deal works were grand buildings or new hydroelectric dams; much of the work done in the New Deal were improvements to existing buildings, sidewalks, roads, and bridges. If you’re looking for it, you can find little signs of New Deal projects just going about your everyday life. One of the most common are small plaques that read “Built by the Works Progress Administration” found embedded in sidewalks.

In South Kingstown, a new Wakefield post office building was funded by the Public Works Administration and constructed between 1934 – 1936. The post office was one of over 1,800 new post office buildings constructed between 1930 and 1940, more than triple the combined number of post offices built within the previous 50 years. Post offices were typically the only federal building in a town or village, and they became the prime location for the accompanying federally funded artworks.

The New Deal Brings Art to the People

It was not a coincidence that art was commissioned for post offices across the country. New Deal arts agency directors had the explicit intention of “democratizing” art through their programs: bringing art to people in their daily lives, across the United States and not only in major artistic and creative hubs like New York and Los Angeles. As the sole federal building in most communities, post offices would be the best place to meet that goal. A portion of the budget (typically 1%) for each building was allocated for commissioning artwork. In the case of the Wakefield post office, the budget allowed the artist to be paid $800 and the cost of the materials.

The economic desperation of the Great Depression was wide spread, with the people of Rhode Island being particularly hard hit. When the initial response proved inadequate, Americans and Rhode Islanders chose representatives that would respond aggressively. The result was state and federal economic relief and work programs to help Americans survive the Depression and get back to work—and the goal of that work was to strengthen our society as a whole. Rhode Islanders “did their jobs” and created artwork, new buildings, and sidewalks still under our feet today. The mural painted to decorate the old Wakefield post office connects not just to the past that it depicts, but also ties to a historic collective effort to help one another through a national crisis.

Banner Image: Baker’s mural as published in LIFE Magazine, January 27, 1941