WPA: Harlem Arts Community Center

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) was a New Deal initiative that brought new jobs to the unemployed regardless of skill level, including the Federal Art Project (FAP), which aimed to employ artists full-time. Since New York City was one of the foremost locations for the FAP and had a large population of African Americans, the project fostered a new body of artwork from the black perspective. In a recent exhibition, The New York Public Library featured works mostly from Harlem Arts Community Center thats gives us small vignettes into the mid-20th century New York with a focus on African-American life.