Fetching water from a spigot which services many people who live in the huge slum area known as "El Fangitto" in San Juan, Puerto Rico

The New Deal Comes To Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico was hit hard by the Great Depression. New Deal relief programs were often democratic and locally controlled.
From One-Third of a Nation

The Living Newspaper Speaks

Scripted from front-page news, the Federal Theatre Project’s Living Newspaper plays were part entertainment, part protest, and entirely educational.
American social reformer and politician Frances Perkins, the Secretary of Labour in Roosevelt's cabinet, arriving in Plymouth aboard US liner Washington en route to Geneva.

Frances Perkins: Architect of the New Deal

She designed Social Security and public works programs that helped bring millions out of poverty. Her work has been largely forgotten.
John Kenneth Galbraith

Why There Is No “Countervailing Power” Against Monopolies

The New Deal revolutions in law and policy were so successful that the economist John Kenneth Galbraith took their accomplishment for granted.
The Oregon Civilian Conservation Corps

The First New Deal Was Green, Too

An integral part of FDR's New Deal was the Civilian Conservation Corps, which focused on environmental conservation work.
Department of Interior Artwork. "An Incident in Contemporary American Life," by Mitchell Jamieson. Date: 1943 Dimensions: 148" x 82" Oil Painting.

The First Civil Rights Monument

The nation's first civil rights monument is a mural portraying the interracial audience at Marion Anderson's famed Freedom Concert of 1939 on the Washington Mall.
Dressmaker strike

Does Disunity Hurt the Left?

Does disunity harm a political party? An account of the organizing by unemployed workers in the 1930s may offer some clues.
WPA mural masculinity

What Kind of Work is “Masculine”?

What's the fate of "masculinity" in a world where it’s hard for many men to achieve personal success? It's a question we asked in the 1930s, too.
An older female worker uses a machine to make a product

The Invention of Retirement

Retirement as a mass phenomenon didn’t start as a way for older people to enjoy themselves.
Barack Obama in the foreground with a blurred audience in the background

Why Racism Is Terrible for Everyone’s Health

Heather Gilligan explores the impact of racism on the fight towards universal health care.