Black History Month #9

Here are another couple of photos from the Library of Congress, Farm Security Administration Collection. These were taken by Arthur Rothstein in September 1936. The Greenbelt project had begun just about a year earlier, in October 1935. These photos are significant because they show relief workers boarding trucks which will transport them to where they were being housed in Washington, D.C. The first photo shows Black men boarding a truck, with a sign that says "COLORED LINE" - though it appears the word "colored" has been altered. The other photo, shows white men boarding a truck with a sign that reads "WHITE LINE." This is another reminder that although both Black and white men were hired as relief workers, because of the rampant racism and discrimination at the time, they were even transported separately. Courtesy Library of Congress.