Federal Writers' Project – Life Histories/2021/Summer/105/Section 08/Pink Petree

Overview

Pink Petree was a man from Alabama. He was a postmaster for the majority of his life. He is described as a tough southern man. In 1939, he was interviewed by R.V. Waldrep with the Federal Writers Project.

Biography

Personal Life

Pink Petree was born in 1896. He had a wife and at least one son. Later in his life, he became a very devout Christian.

Professional Life

Petree worked in a mill that processed grain during his younger adult years. He and his partner, Dr. Underwood, would run the mill and switch off being sawyer and off-bearer. However, even with the mill's success, Petree says "I didn't make much money out of it" . After his mill's landlord lost the land through "a series of bad investments", he became a postmaster to support his wife and family. His job as a postmaster served as a place where he got many of the stories that outlined the working life of a rural southerner. For example, one of his most memorable experiences involved him going into some legal trouble as a man accused him of not following postal regulations to a proper code. Fearful of legal trouble ("I was scared to death" as Petree said ), Petree paid the man 5 dollars to drop the charges. He later found out from a judge that he hadn't done anything wrong in the first place. He retired after 39 years as a postmaster .

Issues Addressed Through Petree's Interview

Petree faced many hardships that were not a product of his own actions during his professional life. He lost his leadership job at the mill because the landlord lost the land. A mill which may actually have been underpaying Petree as his more educated co-owner seemingly was making more money than him. During his long career as a postmaster, he faced hardships which mostly consisted of people taking advantage of his lack of skill/education to get quick change out of him. Even with all of these uncontrollable hardships, he was actually one of the lucky ones as he was able to keep his job during the Great Depression. In his story, however, he mentions a few other rural workers (mainly farmers) who weren't as fortunate as him.

Historical Context

Great Depression

The Great Depression was an economic depression that occurred in the United States from 1929 to 1939. Often considered the worst economic crisis in American history, the depression seemed to be a series of unfortunate events. Kicking them off was a global re-adoption of the gold standard, which resulted in deflationary policies that restricted the economy and slowed the booming stock market. This took a toll on the national economic output and pushed President Hoover to increase taxes, which further reduced household disposable income . This lead to a decrease in casual spending in the American market, which leads to many businesses and factories shutting on . At the same time, scared investors pulled all of their money out of the stock market on a day now called "Black Thursday". This tanked the already declining stock market and lost money for the majority of workers, as they put their salaries into the stock market. These events combined to lose people a lot of money and rid them of their job. Unemployment rates peaked at around 25%, the majority of whom would not be able to get another job in the next 2-3 years. Personal annual income, understandably, fell to an all-time low. In Alabama, it fell to a measly $194 in 1935 .

Social Context

Rural Life During the Great Depression

While the Great Depression affected the entire population pretty badly, rural unskilled workers were perhaps affected the most. The depression coincided with another horrible event in the Dust Bowl. This Dust Bowl was a series of very severe dust storms that terrorized the South and Midwest. The resulting drought and heavy winds resulted in crop and livestock destruction, which resulted in almost every farmer losing their source of income. This pushed many to move to cities to find a source of income to support their families. However, the Great Depression caused many factories and sources of urban jobs to shut down. This left many farmers with no options as they would be tormented by dust storms on their farms and left to starve due to a lack of economic support in the city. Additionally, many were too proud to accept government aid as that was publicized in the newspaper and would bring shame to the man of the household as a failure to support his family.

Oppression of Rural Workers in the South

Many farmers and other rural workers, especially in the South, were stripped of a source of income because of events that they couldn't even control. This is a noticeable theme for the poor and/or minority South. The Dust Bowl that leads to their failure in agriculture and drives them away from their home was nothing that they could control. The lack of jobs in the city, due to the stock market and economic crash, was nothing that they could control. Many couldn't participate in relief funds because of the societal backlash they would receive. Even if they wanted to accept these funds as a last-ditch to feed their families, relief funds were very selective in who they helped. In Alabama, the funds disregarded working-class people, poor whites, blacks to heavily support non-union skilled laborers.

Bibliography

Downs, Matthew L. “Great Depression in Alabama.” Encyclopedia of Alabama, October 1, 2019. http://encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-3608.

History.com Editors. “Great Depression History.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 29 Oct. 2009. https://www.history.com/topics/great-depression/great-depression-history.

Levine, Linda. “The Labor Market During the Great Depression and the Current Recession.” EveryCRSReport.com. Congressional Research Service, June 19, 2009. https://www.everycrsreport.com/reports/R40655.html.

Morain, Tom. “The Great Depression Hits Farms and Cities in the 1930s.” Iowa PBS, February 12, 2018. https://www.iowapbs.org/iowapathways/mypath/great-depression-hits-farms-and-cities-1930s.

Smiley, Gene. “Great Depression.” Econlib, November 30, 2018. https://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/GreatDepression.html.

Waldrep, R.V.. Pink Petree. Red Bay, Alabama: Federal Writers Project, 1939. https://dc.lib.unc.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/03709/id/1015/rec/1.