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The Civilian Conservation Corps & Depression-Era Employment

6 MIN READ

Ancestry Team
03 May 2024

Franklin D. Roosevelt, elected president during the height of the Great Depression, faced a nation devastated by the economic shock of the stock market crash of 1929. For many American families, savings were wiped out, homes were lost, and around a quarter of Americans were left unemployed. 

Roosevelt’s New Deal program, which aimed to alleviate the hard times many were facing, included the creation of work opportunities. One such effort established the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), also called Roosevelt’s “Tree Army.” More than 3 million men—mostly young and unmarried—were employed by the CCC between 1933 and 1942. Did one of your relatives find work through the Civilian Conservation Corps?

What Did the Civilian Conservation Corps Do?

The CCC not only planted trees—approximately 3.5 billion by the end of the Great Depression—corpsmen also built state parks, fought forest fires, and laid down phone lines that are still in use today. Their conservation efforts also saved millions of acres of farmland from soil erosion. 

Whether you’ve visited the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, fished in the Atlantic City Reservoir, attended a concert at the Red Rock Amphitheater, or walked around a historical battle site connected to your family history, much of the infrastructure in those places is thanks to the hard work of the Civilian Conservation Corps.  A more personal legacy for corpsmen was the gaining of literacy and life skills through their CCC service—something that could help them build stronger futures.

Life in the Civilian Conservation Corps Camps

The CCC, which had hundreds of thousands of active members during any given year, was divided into camps of about 200 men each. They stayed in tents or army-style barracks and were led by company commanders and their junior officers. Each camp also had a foreman and a superintendent who took care of logistics. 

The day-to-day life of a conservation corpsman depended on the area they were stationed and the specific type of work they were doing—building roads, creating picnic grounds, or planting trees, for example. Most camps were established in rural, rustic areas. Corpsmen, unlike a lot of people during the Depression, got three square meals a day and access to schooling after work. 

Corpsmen received $30 per month—the same rate for all CCC corpsmen, regardless of race—with $25 to be sent back to their families. While that rate meant survival for many struggling families, labor leaders fought for higher pay. Leaders of the American Federation of Labor, for example, bumped heads with Roosevelt about the rates of compensation. 

Minority Groups in the Civilian Conservation Corps

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Civilian Conservation Corps – NARA, 1933, Wikimedia Commons

During the Great Depression, African Americans were one of the hardest-hit demographics in terms of job loss. The unemployment rate among Black Americans was two or more times higher than that of white Americans. Still, the CCC only designated that 10% of its workforce be Black Americans.

 In some areas, no Black Americans were selected to join the CCC, even if the state had a large population of Black Americans. This is likely due in part to the prevalence of segregation during this Jim Crow era. 

Laws that required integrated camps were rarely enforced, leading to the creation of some all-Black Civilian Conservation Corps camps. Black Americans who did work in integrated camps were often relegated to the roles of cooks or domestics. The discriminatory practices were so widespread that the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People even logged a complaint with President Roosevelt about them, but the situation did not change. 

Originally, the CCC initiative did not mention Native Americans or any provisions for severely impoverished Tribal Nations. Federal officials alerted Roosevelt to the oversight, and he quickly authorized the establishment of the Civilian Conservation Corps-Indian Division (CCC-ID). The CCC-ID allowed Tribal governments to help in the selection of conservation and infrastructure projects. 

Tribal leaders objected to the construction of military-style camps on their lands. Thus, the CCC-ID exempted Native Americans from the military conditioning period and gave preference to Native Americans for leadership roles. Nonetheless, most supervising roles were filled by whites.

To accommodate Tribal workers and their families, the government constructed temporary camps of makeshift domiciles. However, the conditions at these camps—like the conditions of some all-Black camps—were appalling. In some cases, there was no water, or sewer systems. Still, the CCC-ID received more applicants than it had resources to support. While the program improved economic conditions on reservations, most reservations remained at the poverty level.  

Notable Civilian Conservation Corps Alumni

The Civilian Conservation Corps recovery effort taught its enlistees grit, persistence, and the worth of hard work—a mindset that’s likely to have helped them in their post-CCC life. In some cases, former corpsmen went on to become famous. Here’s a small sampling

  • Chuck Yeager, who became an aerial ace in World War II, was also the first person to fly faster than the speed of sound. 
  • Aldo Leopold was one of the first rangers for the U.S. Forest Service and published the country’s first wildlife management textbook. 
  • Archie Moore, born Archibald Lee Wright, became the longest-reigning World Light Heavyweight boxing champion of all time.
  • Stan Musial, professional baseball player, won several World Series games and “Most Valuable Player” awards.
  • Raymond Burr, actor, had a long career in film and television, and received multiple Emmy awards.
CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) blacksmith, Prince George’s County, Maryland, 1935, Library of Congress

Tips for Discovering Ancestors Who Worked for the Civilian Conservation Corps

Using Ancestry® records collections, like the 1940 U.S. Federal Census, can help you learn more about your relatives during the Great Depression. You might even find an ancestor who worked for the Civilian Conservation Corps—take a close look at the occupation field. And if  they worked for the CCC, then browse their internal newspaper, Happy Days, to learn more about the projects on which they may have worked.

Keep in mind that World War II followed closely on the heels of the Great Depression. After serving in the CCC, many of the young men then went on to serve in World War II. Skills gained during their CCC years could have played a role in their military service.

Explore Ancestry with a free trial and discover how your relatives lived during this period in American history. 

Sources

  • https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2006/fall/ccc.html
  • http://npshistory.com/publications/paige/chap3.htm
  • https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/gila/learning/history-culture/?cid=stelprd3841859
  • https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/umpqua/learning/history-culture/?cid=fseprd1009758
  • https://www.census.gov/history/www/homepage_archive/2020/march_2020.html
  • https://www.fws.gov/staff-profile/aldo-leopold-1887-1948-ethical-ecologist
  • https://crosscut.com/equity/2023/03/how-racism-reshaped-civilian-conservation-corps
  • https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/ccc/salmond/chap1.htm
  • https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fsbdev3_004791.pdf
  • https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2016/summer/ccc-id.html
  • https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/company-818-and-segregation-in-the-civilian-conservation-corps.htm 
  • https://socialwelfare.library.vcu.edu/eras/great-depression/civilian-conservation-corps
  • https://livingnewdeal.org/ccc-boys-went-bigger-things/ 
  • https://livingnewdeal.org/sites/ 
  • https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Photograph_of_Civilian_Conservation_Corps_(CCC)_Enrollee_Crew_Planting_-_NARA_-_2128744.jpg
  • https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Civilian_Conservation_Corps_-_NARA_-_195832.jpg 
  • https://www.loc.gov/item/2017714279/ 
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