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Activist Arts
Part 2
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"Children
in a democracy. A migratory family living in a trailer in
an open field. No sanitation, no water. They come from Amarillo,
Texas."
By Dorothea Lange, Bureau of Agricultural
Economics, November 1940
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From
the "One-Third of a Nation" series, New York City
By Arnold Eagle and David Robbins,
New York City Federal Art Project, May to August 1938
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| New Deal photographers
were instrumental in exposing the human pain of the Great Depression
to a wider audience. Their images of rural and urban poverty,
which were sometimes manipulated for political and artistic
effect, laid bare the economic exploitation of farm workers,
uncovered poor living conditions in city tenements, and put
a human face on the Depression. Their photographs remain some
of the most compelling visual documents of the era. |
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Plays With Bite: Staging Relevant Theater
Most Federal Theatre Project (FTP) productions were classical
dramas, vaudeville, or light comedy. But FTP Director Hallie
Flanagan also encouraged dramatists and directors to experiment
and especially to address the social and political issues
of the day. Fostering experimental and socially relevant theater,
however, also embroiled the FTP in several very public controversies.
These productions served as prime examples of what opponents
of the Federal Theatre Project saw as radical influences within
the project and made the FTP the lightning rod for opponents
of government-sponsored art within Congress.
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Poster
for The Revolt of the Beavers
By an unknown WPA artist, 1937
Silkscreen
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| The
Federal Theatre Project produced a variety of children's plays.
The great majority were warmly received. The
Revolt of the Beavers, however, stirred political passions
from the moment it premiered. In the play, two small children
are transported to "Beaverland," where society is run by a cruel
beaver chief. "The Chief" forces the other beavers to work endlessly
on the "busy wheel," turning bark into food and clothing, then
hoards everything for himself and his friends. With the help
of the children, a beaver named Oakleaf organizes his brethren,
overthrows The Chief, and establishes a society where everything
is shared. The show played to packed houses during its brief
New York City run, but its message drew fire. Theater critic
Brooks Atkinson labeled it "Marxism à la Mother Goose."
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"The
Beavers gather under Oakleaf's (Jules Dassin) flag to discuss
the overthrow of the Chief." A scene from The Revolt of the
Beavers.
By an unknown photographer, 1937
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Design
for poster for It Can't Happen Here
By an unknown WPA artist, 1937
Pencil, gouache, and colored pencil on board
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Shad
Ledue, leader of the fascist "Corpos," beats Doremus Jessup,
a Vermont newspaperman who has been opposing the dictatorship
in his newspaper.
A scene from It Can't Happen Here at the Blackstone Theatre,
Chicago, IL, October 1936
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| Based on a bestselling novel by Sinclair
Lewis, It Can't Happen Here
describes America under the control of a fascist dictatorship
similar to the ones ruling Germany and Italy. On October 27,
1936, the Federal Theatre Project took advantage of the interest
in Lewis's book and launched 22 simultaneous openings of the
play across the country, including Yiddish, Spanish, and all-black
productions. By the end of its run, It
Can't Happen Here had been seen by almost 500,000 people
nationwide. In some cities, local authorities refused to allow
the play to open because of its controversial content. Republicans
charged that the date for the show's mass opening had been selected
to whip up support for Democrats in the 1936 elections. |
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National Archives and Records
Administration
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