Faces of America: Getting By in Our Economy
2015 J Street, Suite 101, Sacramento, CA 95811

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In the 1930s, amid the greatest economic crisis in American history, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt launched numerous initiatives to help the nation get back on its feet, among them a documentary photography project. From 1935 to 1944, the Farm Security Administration commissioned more than a dozen photographers to record conditions in the country’s hard-hit rural areas. The photographers’ mission was to “introduc[e] America to Americans,” to highlight people who had been overlooked. The economic situation in the United States today bears little resemblance to the Great Depression. However, many challenges facing Americans today would feel familiar to the FSA photographers of the 1930s. Even after significant improvements over the last few decades, many households lack financial stability, and many communities are not able to provide residents opportunities for a better life. These economic problems are intertwined with challenges facing American democracy. Many of those who have not benefited from economic growth—and even many who have—feel left out of institutions they believe do not look after their interests. At this moment of increased distrust, it is important once again to introduce America to Americans.
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