New Deal Labor Civilian Conservation Corps Camps in Pennsylvania and Utah Photo Archive, Including Black and Integrated CCC Units, 1930s

African American Civilian Conservation Corps

Photograph

[New Deal][Labor] Civilian Conservation Corps photo archive, circa 1930s, documenting Black, white, and racially integrated labor units under the New Deal, with particular relevance to African American labor history, federal relief policy, and the administration of public works programs. These images provide direct visual evidence of how the CCC, one of the most expansive federal employment initiatives of the Great Depression, operated within the framework of Jim Crow segregation while mobilizing young men for conservation and infrastructure work.

Archive of 14 black and white photographs, likely silver gelatin prints, depicting CCC camps, workers, and daily life across two regions. Ranging in size from 2" x 3" to 2" x 4". Six images show an African American CCC unit in Pennsylvania, including group portraits in wooded environments, camp interiors, and work-related scenes such as cooking or provisioning, with men in uniform posed formally and informally. One Black CCC member poses smiling next to a sign reading "Portland Mills Trail," indicating the Pennsylvania location. Six images depict a white CCC unit in Utah, including large group assemblies, truck transport scenes, desert or canyon landscapes, and camp structures; one building bears a humorous sign reading “Disgusted Millionaires", likely an ironic reference to the massive class divide between the wealthy elite who profited off the Great Depression and the working class who relied on New Deal welfare initiatives. One image bears a caption in ink en verso reading "Nation Arches - Utah / June 1938." Another image, neither from the Pennsylvania or the Utah group, shows one Black man and nine white men posing in two rows for the camera, an unusual integrated group with no visible distinction by color.

The Civilian Conservation Corps, established in 1933 under Franklin D. Roosevelt, enrolled over three million men, including approximately 200,000 African American participants, who were typically organized into segregated units under white officers. These photographs document both the labor and social structure of CCC camps, including housing, transportation, recreation, and the built environment of temporary federal installations. The Pennsylvania images show Black enrollees within forested eastern conservation projects, while the Utah images capture western expansion efforts tied to land management and infrastructure development. Together, the archive provides material evidence of federal intervention in unemployment alongside the persistence of racial segregation in New Deal programs. Light surface wear, and occasional creasing. Some images lightly faded, one clipped at corner. Overall very condition good. A photo archive of Black and white labor under New Deal work initiatives during the Great Depression.

Item #23075

Price: $1,650.00