Federal Writers' Project – Life Histories/2023/Fall/Section20/George Cornelius Chandler

Biography

Early Life

Born fatherless, George Cornelius Chandler was born in 1866 and raised by his mother and demanding stepfather. He went to only two school sessions, and unfortunately couldn’t attend any more sessions because, after age sixteen, you had to pay to go to school. To counter this, Chandler taught himself how to read and write. Chandler grew up to become very hardworking and wanted to achieve success for himself and his future family.

Adult Life

Chandler was twenty-one when he married for the first time, had three children, and unfortunately lost his wife early on in his children’s lives. Because of this, he quit working on the railroad to care for his children. Unfortunately, two of his children died of measles, leaving him with his daughter Carie, who later married and moved to Riverton. After her death, Chandler bought himself a blacksmith shop so he could be home with his family more often. He then married his second wife who divorced him and then also passed away. With his third wife, he owns an old rat-infested shack yet tries to make the best of his situation while continuing to work at his blacksmith shop. Before, since he was the only blacksmith shop around, he would make around fifteen to eighteen dollars a day. However, now he’s lucky if he makes that much in a month due to non-paying customers. Because of these financial struggles along with his age, he hopes to be able to qualify for the old age pension.

Social Context

African Americans during the Great Depression in North Carolina

African American farm workers

While the Great Depression began in the 1930s, African Americans struggled financially way before the Depression took place. Due to racism, many African Americans had limited job opportunities while also having a lower wage compared to white men, which affected African Americans’ financial situation but also their mental health as well. Since African Americans became used to being lower class, the depression made “relatively little difference in their mental adjustments”. Therefore, while the mental health of others–White Americans–during the great depression was plummeting and little hope was seen, African Americans were already used to the feeling of hopelessness. Additionally, while African Americans were used to the horrible treatment that they received compared to White Americans, they were still disregarded from economic restorative programs. For instance, at the time where many New Deal programs were being created to alleviate the economic strains of the Great depression, the programs "were administered at a state level where racial segregation was still widespread, and systemically, enforced.” So while the government was attempting to resolve the economic downfall, they failed to offer solutions to this minority group.

Townsend Plan

The Townsend Plan was created in 1933 by Dr. Francis E. Townsend. Its plan was for it to become an old-age pension– a $200 monthly benefit paid by the federal government–as a way to “alleviate the desperate economic circumstances of the elderly” due to the Great Depression. However, to qualify and receive these benefits, the person would have to be retired, or quit their current job, and also have to spend all of their benefits before the next monthly benefit came in to “stimulate a general economic recovery” during the Depression. However, due to the many flaws in this idea, the Townsend Plan was never executed.

Measels in the 1900s

The Measels is a disease that is highly contagious disease caused by a virus that is transmitted airborne. Symptoms include a high fever, cough, runny nose and a rash all over the bod and was majorly found and diagnosed in children. Currently, the best way to prevent being infected and the spread of Measels is to get vaccinated. This includes infant immunization, immunization of all susceptible children upon school enrollment, surveillance, and epidemic control. However, before the creation and licensing of the Measels vaccination in 1963, "major epidemics occurred approximately every two to three years and caused an estimated 2.6 million deaths each year." Unfortunately, since no vaccine or suitable treatment was around before 1963, leaving Measels untreated typically led to death. Because of the number of fatalities due to Measels, this disease was the first "to become the target of a federally supported eradication-through-vaccination campaign, one that relied heavily on the preemptive, required vaccination of children."

References

“The Old Blacksmith” Interview by Mary P. Wilson, date June 14, 1929, Folder 784, Federal Writers’ Project papers #3709, Southern Historical Collection, the Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Johnson, Guy B. “The Negro and the Depression in North Carolina.” Social Forces 12, no. 1 (1933): 103–15. https://doi.org/10.2307/2570124

"Townsend Plan." Encyclopedia of the Great Depression. Encyclopedia.com. (September 18, 2023). https://www.encyclopedia.com/economics/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/townsend-plan

Klein, Christopher. 2018. “Last Hired, First Fired: How the Great Depression Affected African Americans.” HISTORY.COM. August 31, 2018. https://www.history.com/news/last-hired-first-fired-how-the-great-depression-affected-african-americans.

Conis E. Measles and the Modern History of Vaccination. Public Health Reports. 2019;134(2):118-125. doi:10.1177/0033354919826558

World Health Organization. 2023. “Measles.” Who.int. World Health Organization: WHO. March 20, 2023. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/measles.

Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Photographs and Prints Division, The New York Public Library. "These cotton hoers work from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. for $1.00 near Clarksdale, Mississippi, June-July 1937." New York Public Library Digital Collections. Accessed October 30, 2023. https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47de-871d-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99