Grace Wick Protests

On October 29, 1929, the U.S. stock market plunged to new lows and served as the starting point for the era in U.S. history known as the Great Depression.  The early 1930s were difficult years for Oregonians.  Farmers, unable to receive loans from banks, were forced to sell their family farms.  And urban residents, like Grace Wick, photographed here in 1935, led political protests through the streets of Portland.  Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his New Deal however, turned around the lives of many struggling Oregonians.  For instance, in 1933, Congress authorized the Beer Act, setting the stage for the repeal of Prohibition.  The Beer Act permitted hop-raisers and brewers like Blitz-Weinhard to resume production, thereby employing many dozens of out-of-work Oregonians.  The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) provided unemployment relief for several million young American males.  In Oregon alone, tens of thousands of men built roads, constructed bridges, and built the Bonneville Dam along the Columbia River through the CCC program.  The Works Project Administration (WPA) employed teachers, lawyers, and architects and mounted the Oregon Folklore Project, the Oregon Writer’s Program, and the Inventory of the County Archives of Oregon.  While the 1930s were trying years for Oregonians the New Deal had a wide-reaching and powerful impact on Oregon and its residents.

Written by Tania Hyatt Evenson, Sarah Griffith, 2002.