Federal Writers' Project – Life Histories/2021/Fall/Section018/Zelda Williamson

Overview

Zelda Williamson is a working-class man, plumber by profession, who struggled with alcoholism, unemployment, and poverty in the early to mid-20th century.

Biography

Early Life

Zelda Williamson was born in the early 1900s on a farm. He grew up as one of nine children, six boys and three girls. The eldest boy died at three, making Zelda the oldest in the family. He spent his childhood helping to work the farm and doing chores around the house. Zelda spent some time in schooling during these early years, but stopped in the seventh grade to help support the family, since his father wasn’t getting much work. Zelda worked a number of jobs, the first being on the ice and coal truck for a few months, then a mechanic in the county garage. Zelda eventually found his calling as a plumber, and worked his way to better positions, from helper, to assistant, to having his own helper.  

Adulthood

At seventeen, Zelda married Bertha, who was in the tenth grade at the time. The couple had two children, but began using birth control to avoid more costs that they can’t afford. In 1939, Zelda’s income dropped dramatically, and he began drinking heavily. This alcoholism eventually led to kidney failure and hospitalization, and after this Bertha had the police pick up Zelda and keep him in jail overnight for his drinking. Zelda and Bertha at this point, facing severe financial struggles, moved in with Zelda’s father. These events took place during the height of the great depression, and attempting to find work became extremely difficult and money became scarce. Williamson had plans during this time to re-start his plumbing work, and wanted to resist liquor in all shapes and forms.

Social Issues

Alcoholism

America has always consumed more alcohol than other nations, and in the early 1900s, some Americans wanted to fight back. The 18th Amendment to the United States constitution, "After one year from the ratification of this article the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the United States and all territory subject to the jurisdiction thereof for beverage purposes is hereby prohibited.," was passed on January 16, 1920, and was repealed 13 years later on December 5, 1933. While it is difficult to track alcohol consumption during the years prohibition was in effect, the numbers show that, "Although the average number of gallons of alcohol Americans drink every year fell just before and in the early days of Prohibition, consumption rebounded to pre-Prohibition levels once it was repealed”. Zelda's struggles with alcoholism were not uncommon, and the way it was dealt with was not uncommon either. Just as Zelda's wife Bertha made arrangements to stop his alcoholism, the temperance movement responsible for the 18th Amendment was largely started and progressed by women.

F.D.R. & Poverty

United States President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was known for his creation of large federal programs to help the poor as a part of his New Deal package during the great depression. He created jobs programs, instant monetary relief programs, and social safety nets. According to a study by Baum and Kernell, "the economic classes differed more in their job approval ratings for FDR prior to the outbreak of World War II than for any other president for whom comparable data are readily available." This study implies that a) F.D.R. was quite divisive as a political figure, and b) the lower classes supported Roosevelt's policies, while the upper class did not. Zelda Williamson, as a working class man struggled to find work and was hit hard by the great depression fiscally, supported F.D.R.'s expansion of the federal government and especially policies like social security. F.D.R. remains a controversial figure to this day, as do his policies.

Birth Control

Despite the birth-control movement's social success in the early 1900s, legislative reform was not enacted in the United States. Birth control would not be federally legalized in the United States until the mid 1960s. Throughout the history of birth control in the United States, the objections to legalization have mostly been religious, and it was no different for Williamson. He claims that some think he and his wife are interfering with "God's work." However, Williamson and his wife's use of birth control shows the reasons why a lower class family may have a practical need for the drug i.e. to prevent future expenses that they can not afford. Zelda justifies this decision by explaining that "It looks to me like it's as big a sin to bring babies into a home that can't afford it, as it is to be cautious."

Bibliography

Baum, Matthew A., and Samuel Kernell. “Economic Class and Popular Support for Franklin Roosevelt in War and Peace.” Public Opinion Quarterly 65, no. 2 (Summer, 2001): 198–229. https://doi.org/10.1086/322197.

Tapia Granados, Jose A., and Ana V. Diez Roux. 2009. “Life and Death during the Great Depression.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 106, no. 41 (October 13, 2009): 17290–95. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0904491106.

Tone, Andrea. “Contraceptive Consumers: Gender and the Political Economy of Birth Control in the 1930s.” Journal of Social History 29, no. 3 (1996): 485–506. https://doi.org/10.1353/jsh/29.3.485.

Zagorsky, Jay. “POV: The 100th Anniversary of Prohibition Reminds Us That Bans Rarely Work.” BU Today. Boston University, January 17, 2020. https://www.bu.edu/articles/2020/pov-the-100th-anniversary-of-prohibition-reminds-us-that-bans-rarely-work/

“Social Security History.” Social Security Administration. Government Printing Office. Accessed October 13, 2021. https://www.ssa.gov/history/briefhistory3.html.

Combs, and Massengill. "Liquor Will Ruin You." Federal Writer's Project. https://dc.lib.unc.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/03709/id/710/rec/1