CCC 5

0:05So as I said in the body of lecture, the

0:10CCC was quite popular and it impacted a

0:16lot of young men's lives and young

0:19women's lives and different types of

0:21people's lives. So in conclusion, what I

0:23want to talk a little bit about is like

0:25what happened because of the CCC, right?

0:29Remember that one of the goals FDR had

0:33was to convince young Americans that

0:39they could demonstrate that they fit in

0:42in the United States, that they could be

0:44recognized for hard work and they could

0:47achieve the American dream. Right? it

0:50was it was worth it to

0:53essentially do the things Americans

0:55thought brought value that earned merit.

0:58Right? So the CCC was meant to

1:01demonstrate that the US was still a

1:04meritocracy albeit now one partially

1:08provided by the federal government.

1:11So in some ways like the Civilian

1:14Conservation Corps achieved those ends.

1:16I mean, I have some quotes up here again

1:18from people who were uh involved with

1:21the CCC

1:23and you can see like doing this work in

1:26camps really helped them as people. You

1:28know, the first talking about this sort

1:31of like um conservation work he did in

1:35North Carolina being the experience that

1:39kickstarted his life. It it started a

1:41career with the North Carolina

1:44Agricultural Extension Service. So

1:46here's a guy who, you know, started off

1:48in his young adulthood doing manual

1:50labor, but then took this skill and

1:54transitioned into a leadership role,

1:56into a more of a managerial type role

1:58into a a more successful role. So he was

2:02somebody who over his lifetime made more

2:04money, earned more respect from other

2:07people, and demonstrated his value to

2:10society because the CCC gave him this

2:13opportunity. you know, other people

2:15saying clearly like the second and third

2:18quot uh quotations saying that the CCC

2:22really just gave them better educations,

2:24you know, that that they got the chance

2:26to read and write more. They got basic

2:29skills that they wouldn't have got had

2:31they not got into the CCC. And then even

2:35you know this this uh last person saying

2:37hey I you know I was able to transition

2:40into the private economy you know

2:42because I had done machine work in the

2:44CCC the naval shipyard in Philadelphia

2:47was eager to hire me. So here's a guy

2:49who took this sort of manual labor

2:52position and used it to develop skills

2:56that were mechanized and those skills

2:58were of value in the trades in

3:00Philadelphia. It got him jobs. So these

3:03are all I think like very clearly

3:05examples

3:06where Americans look at the CCC and say

3:12it's doing its job. It's going to help

3:15people help themselves in defeat the uh

3:19depression. And this was something that

3:22was very much at the forefront of even

3:24the the the sort of propaganda that the

3:27CCC put out about itself. Right. Happy

3:31Days, which was a um newsletter printed

3:35by the workers at one North Carolina

3:38camp, said, "This is a training station.

3:41We're [clears throat] going to leave

3:42morally and physically fit to lick old

3:44man depression. So, this isn't just a

3:47crutch. This is a tool we use to do

3:49something bigger and better that's of

3:52service to everybody."

3:55Then on the other hand, you have

3:57experiences like the one my own

3:59grandfather, my my granddad did, my my

4:02dad's father who we call granddad. Uh

4:05granddad Anderson was from rural

4:07Arkansas. He was the oldest of eight

4:10kids. Um his dad was a carpenter

4:14and uh who died young. My grandfather

4:17was only 12 when my great-grandfather

4:20died. So, granddad uh left school after

4:24the sixth grade. He only had a sixth

4:26grade education because the family

4:28needed him to work. Uh so, he worked as

4:31much as he could in the early 30s. But,

4:34you know, eventually what happened was

4:36that my great-grandmother asked him to

4:38leave because she couldn't feed

4:40everybody. And he was the eldest. He was

4:42the most prepared for adult life at

4:44about 15 or 16 years of age. So, he left

4:48home and he hoboed across the country.

4:50uh he picked apples, he did other manual

4:52jobs, but eventually he worked his way

4:55back to Arkansas

4:57uh in the the mid 1930s and he heard

4:59about a CCC camp in a town that was

5:03about it about an hour and a half away

5:05from his town. It's a place called

5:06Jonesboro, Arkansas. My my grandfather

5:09was from a little town outside Little

5:10Rock called Lono, Arkansas. So, Granddad

5:13Anderson goes to this CCC camp to find

5:17work and gets turned away because he had

5:21been living away from home for a couple

5:23years. They the government said that

5:26this disqualified him because it meant

5:29that he had left his household. He

5:30wasn't part of that household. So, they

5:33were only interested in hiring people

5:35who they could send that $25 a month

5:37home to a family. And they said on

5:39paper, you don't have that. So they

5:42turned him down. Now Grandad didn't

5:45quit. What he and one of his buddies did

5:48was they started doing laundry for the

5:51guys outside the Jonesboro camp. They

5:53they built a little a little cabin and

5:55they would go through the camp and they

5:57would get the dirty uniforms and they

5:59would charge the guys a nickel to do

6:01their their dirty clothes. Uh, and so

6:04this way, granddad hoped to essentially

6:06make a little little cash, uh, to help

6:09support himself and to support his mom

6:12and his seven siblings. The first week

6:14they did this, uh, they they went to the

6:18camp on Friday because Friday was

6:20payday, and there was a little little

6:22cabin that was the pay cabin, and there

6:25was a line of young men going in one

6:27side to get to get their paychecks, to

6:29get their their piece of that $5 for the

6:32week. Uh and then on the other side

6:34where they came out there was a

6:35collection of of men. Now all these men

6:39were local business owners, right? The

6:40local barber, local drugstore owner, the

6:44local bar owner, so forth and so on. And

6:47all these men had been selling to the

6:50workers on credit because they knew they

6:52got paid at the end of the week and they

6:53were like my granddad all there to

6:56collect. So my grandfather

7:00waited and when the first guy came

7:02through the crowd and my granddad asked

7:04him for his nickel, the guy said, "Sorry

7:06bud," he was name was Ralph, but he went

7:08by bud. Said, "Sorry, bud. I'm all

7:10tapped out." So granddad realized if he

7:13wanted to to get his money, he needed to

7:15get into the crowd. So as the next guy

7:18came forward towards the screen door,

7:21that was the exit door. He began to push

7:23himself in. And granddad was a little

7:25guy. He's only like 5'8.

7:27And uh as he pushed his way in, and

7:30again remember he this is a 17, 18 year

7:33old guy by this point, he feels his hand

7:36drop on his neck, the back of his neck,

7:38and pull him out of a crowd. And it's

7:40one of the older men and this guy tells

7:43him like, "This isn't for you, right?

7:46This is our money. We're from Jonesboro.

7:48You're an outsider. You don't get this

7:50money." And pushed him away.

7:53So, granddad tried to push his way back

7:55into the crowd to collect the money and

7:58a couple guys dragged him into the woods

8:00and beat him senseless.

8:02Um, now my grandfather did not want to

8:05tell me this story. Um, I heard about it

8:08that he had kind of been through this

8:09thing for years and years and I would

8:11ask him and he wouldn't tell me and he

8:13eventually did tell me. I was probably

8:15about 20 21. when I was in college and

8:17hearing about the depression in classes

8:19and was asked him about it and he broke

8:21down and told me the story and when he

8:23got this part of the story of course my

8:24eyes got huge and I asked him I said

8:26well you know what did you do and he

8:29said well um I I went and collected and

8:32I said how'd you do that he said well

8:35you know I got a knife and I collected

8:39and I asked him I said did you win many

8:41fights he said no I didn't win many

8:43fights but I made sure they didn't want

8:45to fight me Again,

8:47my granddad Anderson, like as he aged,

8:50was somebody who didn't have a lot of

8:52trust in other people. He didn't trust

8:55the government. He hardly ever voted. He

8:57never had a good thing to say about a

8:58politician. He didn't trust other people

9:01to look out for him or for other people.

9:05He really valued his own independence

9:07and being able to do what he wanted. And

9:10he had some other qualities that were

9:11negative, I think, would call negative

9:13qualities, you know. that were difficult

9:16to understand when I was a kid. Um, he

9:20drank too much. He was a racist.

9:23But, you know, after I heard this story,

9:26some of that made sense. You know,

9:28Granddad Anderson wasn't a a bad guy. He

9:31was my grandfather and I loved him. But

9:34he was also a tough guy who didn't

9:36expect the world to provide much. And

9:40after I heard the story about his

9:41experience at this CCC camp, it kind of

9:44made sense. I mean, here's a guy who

9:46really needed this help. He needed this

9:49help from the government. Other people

9:50were getting this help. And he went to

9:52ask for this help and was turned away on

9:54a technicality because he didn't fit

9:57their idea of what a needy person looked

9:59like. And then when he tried to work for

10:02himself, other people who were competing

10:05for the same money tried to run him off,

10:08made it tough for him tougher for him to

10:10to take care of himself. So for some

10:13people, yes, what the CCC did was teach

10:16them the government is taking more

10:18responsibility for us. It's going to

10:20create more work for us. And some people

10:22became Democratic voters, lifelong

10:25Democratic voters because of this. But I

10:28think the CCC also had some mixed

10:30results in the long run because it also

10:31created people like my granddad who

10:34didn't trust the government, didn't

10:35trust people with money, didn't trust

10:37authority to do the right thing because

10:39of his experiences. So in the end, the

10:42CCC had sort of mixed results.