GARDE N
more to eat, saved
more money, and
were more likely to
eat a balanced diet.
Seventh-grader Nelle
Curtis, from
McDowell County,
wrote that she and
her friends were "not
going to quit 'Live-
at-home' this week
but are going to
practice it. Nearly
every boy arid girl in
our school is going
to have a garden."
For students like
Nelle, the program
proved a success. By
learning to produce their own
food, they helped themselves and their families
survive the Great Depression. (' Y j
CLUB
Thetis Parnell, a sixth-grader from
Robeson County, made this cover for his
school's "Garden Club" notebook. Image
courtesy of the State Archives, North
Carolina Office of Archives and Histonj.
DeprEssiDn Snapshot:
How should families choose and care for school clothing
and shoes, to make them last as long as possible? What
hair care and other grooming tips were considered
important in the 1930s? How did the Great Depression
affect 4-H and North Carolina Agricultural Extension Service pro¬
grams? (For example, participating in Live-at-Home became part
of the effort.) To view photos, brochures, and other materials
from the 1930s, visit Green 'N' Growing: The History of Home
Demonstration and 4-H Youth Development in North Carolina at
www.lib.ncsu.edu/special collections/greenngrowing/essay_
great_depression.html.
“Governor O. Max Gardner is the friend of the girl and boy on the
farm. It is his ambition to make farm life in North Carolina more
profitable and happier. His short talk to the assembly yesterday after¬
noon came directly from his heart and he is depending on the dub
members to keep their pledge to him about planting a tree in the fall.
The theme used by the Governor and Hon. J. W. Bailey was that
the club member has a part in building a better North Carolina. Each
member has a job to do. The life of the Club member is not aimless
and without purpose, said the speakers. No club member has to
resort to idle tree-sitting to direct attention to what he is doing.
The State is watching the work of the club boys and girls. News¬
papers are glad to have reports about their progress and their accom¬
plishments for it is realized that the young folks on the farm will be
the ones who will bring about great things in the future.
Mr. Bailey sounded a happy note when he said the best is yet to be.
That should be one of the slogans of club work for the future.”
—Tar Heel Club News, Volume 2, Number 3, Raleigh, August 7, 1930 (newsletter
during the 4-H summer short course), Special Collections Research Center, North
Carolina Stole University, www.lih.ncsu.edU/rcsolver/t840.6/389
12
TH/H. Spring 2010
HI
Work and Op
African Ameri
by Dr, Olen Cole Jr.*
i
Thousands of people travel the Blue Ridge
Parkway and visit North Carolina's
national forests each year. Few, however,
know about the many long and difficult
hours of work that went into their con¬
struction and preservation, in the midst
of the Great Depression. Fewer still know about the
participation of African American men in this effort.
One of the most popular programs in President
Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal proved to
be the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). The
program's goal was to conserve the country's
natural resources while providing jobs for young
men. African American men played a major role in
the CCC in North Carolina. These men built truck
trails and roads in the Nantahala National Forest,
helping to provide easy access to the Great Smoky
Mountains. They constructed telephone lines.
They removed dead trees to prevent forest fires.
Workers put out forest fires, too, saving timber,
property, and possibly even lives. They lessened
soil erosion by laying topsoil to prevent land- and
mudslides, by landscaping, and by planting trees
and shrubs. This work benefited forestland and
agricultural areas across North Carolina.
Although most Americans experienced economic
hardship during the Depression, some groups and
populations suffered more than others. Because of
competition for jobs, those without experience or
a specific skill found it very difficult to find work.
Young people struggled a great deal. The wide¬
spread racism and segregation of the time made the
suffering of African American youth even worse.
President Roosevelt responded to the Depression
in March 1933 by convincing Congress to create
the CCC. In 1933 over a third of the 14 million
known unemployed were under age 25. The CCC
provided conservation jobs for unemployed men,
ages 18 to 25, in semimilitary work camps, usually
in rural areas. (Some people called the CCC "Roos¬
evelt’s Tree Army," because its focus included the
planting of millions of trees.)
The enrollee (the official term for a CCC partici-
'Dr. Olen Cote jr. is the author
о
.African American Experience in the Civiliai
Conservation Corps (Gainesville, Florida: Unhvrsity Press of Florida. 1999). He is
professor and chairperson of the Dqtartment of History at North Carolina
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