The Phoenix index., 1940-02-10

at Federal headquarters her
this week.
1.-The most important benefit, OF
course, was the employment given
to needy workers." Mr.. Smith said
During the past year an average
of 100000 Negro workers were en-
ployed on WPA projects and it is
estimated that they received some
S15,000,000 in monthly wages. More
than a million Negroes, including
dependent members of these work.
ers' families, owed their livelihood
directly to the WPA.
OBTAIN BETTER HOUSES
Besides receiving WPA wages,
workers IL some localities were
able to OBTAIN decent housing at
low cost in Government-buil!
houses; and in many more locali..
ties their wages were supplement
ed by the distribution of surplus
clothing and food.
Certain features of the WPA
program stood cut above Others.
Many Negro women who were wage
earners for their families found in
WPA employment their first OPP
portunity to work as something
other than domestic and personal
servants or as laborers in the cot
ton fields. WPA adult education
classes furnished many grown
Negroes with their first opportunity
to attend any kind of school. Juve-
nile delinquency decreased among
colored children as WPA workers
carried supervised and instruc-
tive recreation into underprivileged
areas. Illiteracy decreased SO much,
as result of WPA classes in read
ing and writing, that it was con-
sidered no longer necessary to m
clude a question on this subject in
the 1910. Census.
387, ,I83 CERTIFIED
after reviewing the need OF its
workers III February 1889" Mr..
Smith said, "the WPA certified
387,138 Negroes for continued en-
ployment. These men and women
comprised IA percent of the toUal
number of WPA workers. Despite
some concentration in big cities of
the North, the largest representa-
tion of Negro workers was, as might
be expected, In the Southeastern
States.
~ Negroes comprised 80 percent OF
all WPA workers in both South
Carolina and Louisiana and 81 per
cent in Georgia Surprisingly, the
proportion of Negro WPA workers
in the District of Columbia was CT
per cent. In Illinois it was 20 per-
cent and in New York and Kan
sas, IA per cent; but in New Eng
land, most of the Great. Plains
States, and the Northwest, the
averages were under 5 per cent.
Negro workers found many op-
portunities for vocational tram
ing on WPA projects, as weu as at
adult education classes in such SUD-
jects as radio, woodwork, metal
work, and music. Young white
collar workers learned to make
maps and to operate many kinds
of computing machines. Negro
women learned to sew, to make
household necessities from scrap
materials. and were trained as oo-
nestle workers on househoio-
training projects.
GIVEN OFFICIAL JOBS
"The administrative staffs OF the
Federal, State and District WPA
offices employed Negro personne!:
Nearly 100 Negroes were employed
tn various capacities at WA
headquarters in Washington, D. c.;
and State administrations made
use of Negro workers as race rela-
tions officers and in other special
lied roles. District offices en-
uloyed Negro social workers, labor
coordinators. educational and rec
reational supervisors, etc. :.
Negroes as well as other peo-
pie benefited by the public tacul-
ties built or improved by WPA
workers." Mr.. Smith pointed OUT.
"New public libraries were erecte;i,
and old ones reconditioned. State
colleges for colored students in the
South enlarged their plants and ac-
uuired new buildings, athletlc
fields, stadiums, and power plants.
p-seNegro workers helped improve
streets. walks, and sewers. Pubic
school buildings, gymnasiums, anu
auditoriums were constructed ana
renovated, and rural cabin schools
were replaced with modern build
ings Outstanding examples OF
WPA-built buildings for Negro use
are: the 100000 high school al
Pine Bluff, Arkansas; the $l2'o09
civic center at Goldsboro, N. c.,
/ and the 100000 memorial hospltai
at Tampa, Fla.
Members of the Negro race
benefited particularly from ser7'
ices not previously available TO
them in many communities. Negro
mothers were able to seek and hold
EMPLOYMENT, while their small chill
dren were kept safe in chlld-care
centers. WPA travelling libraries
brought a book-lending service T
communities where Negroes were
4 barred from public libraries OF
where library buildings were mac
. cessible. AIT became something
tangible and real at new WPA art
galleries in such cCnterS as jack