1930, At a Drought Relief at an African American Grocery, Drought Relief is providing African Americans with their everyday stuff but at an affordable price. Taking advantage of what they can get before the situation gets any worse, and to provide for their families with there needs-Stephanie Panesso

Windale, North Carolina, 1930. It's payday for African Americans, and Mexican Americans they are waiting in line to get there pay for the jobs they still have, while many are happy even for the smallest pay, one guy struggled and didn't get his payment-Stephanie Panesso

At a corner store, 1931 in New York four men out of the many African Americans talk to me, about how their in need of a job and that they are struggling on a daily basis to get by each day and provide for themselves and their families-Stephanie Panesso

Leaving Florida 1931, a family struggling with the changes of the great depression leave before things get worse, they leave in hope that they will have better opportunities anywhere else other then Florida, but they thank God for what they still have, and that they have each other-Stephanie Panesso

Georgia, 1932, An African American construction worker is lucky enough to still has his job, after the many crisis of the great depression. Many still struggle in getting a job. Even if the pay is not so great it is still something, and anything is appreciated in the moment-Stephanie Panesso

1931, a family of six is traveling from the roads of New York to Pennsylvania with nothing but the things on there back. By going there, their hoping in that their father finds a job during this crisis to help support the family-Stephanie Panesso

The year is 1931 and the men you see on the left are all going to their first job in months. After not working they will take any job no matter what the pay is. The employer agreed to give them $1.25 an hour and that was generous of him. They are on their way to the cotton fields to pick pounds of cotton in scorching temperatures-Issam Figueroa

Jonathan, and Claudia are in their home in 1931, they are happy because they just bought a new mattress for their little daughter with the money that Jonathan made in two weeks working on the railroad and little side jobs he could find-Issam Figueroa

Mary, Agatha (mother of Mary), and little 3 year old Jackson are all waiting for Daniel the father to come back to help pack. They are all leaving this torn to pieces home and going on the road to search a job for Daniel. At this point they don’t care how much the job pays because it is better than making no money at all. The year is 1932 and they are unfortunately in their worst state economically-Issam Figueroa

James, Clyde, John, and Damien are all waiting outside desperately waiting for the man this is giving them a job for only today. They are all worried about him not coming because he might have found Anglo workers at the last minute. The year is 1931 and they all desperately need this job for today to get money to pay for the groceries they are hoping to buy to be able to feed their family's-Issam Figueroa

This is Aretha and her two kids Bradley and James, the year is circa 1932 in Arkansas and they are waiting for dad to come home from his job, which is working on building a railroad. The unemployment rate keeps growing and unfortunately they wish they could say the same about the food in their table. So far the husband has a job but they are all hopeful that he keeps it. Being a mother of two infants she is waiting in desperation for her husband to be back with money so that she can make dinner for her family-Issam Figueroa

This picture was taken early one morning at a construction site. There is no work but these faithful employees still continue to come to work hoping that there is something left for them to do. It looks to me like they will be sitting here all day, but I’m sure to them it’s worth it in case any little bit of work comes up. They don’t know how it got to this point and don’t know what to expect for the future. All they know is things can’t get any worse than they already are. February 1927-Alyssa Fuentes

At a protest this weekend an older woman was photographed talking against President Hoover. “All of this is happening to us because of Hoover!” She yelled this phrase repeatedly until someone had to come drag her off the stage. There are people all over the place yelling and screaming not knowing what to do. African Americans seem to be the angriest and the most helpless. Before she was pulled away I got to ask her why she had so much anger and she said it’s because no one has ever helped their race and she feels like no one ever will. Days are continuing to worsen around the country and these protests are just showing how bad things are-Alyssa Fuentes
At a protest this weekend an older woman was photographed talking against President Hoover. “All of this is happening to us because of Hoover!” She yelled this phrase repeatedly until someone had to come drag her off the stage. There are people all over the place yelling and screaming not knowing what to do. African Americans seem to be the angriest and the most helpless. Before she was pulled away I got to ask her why she had so much anger and she said it’s because no one has ever helped their race and she feels like no one ever will. Days are continuing to worsen around the country and these protests are just showing how bad things are

This week I called for any African Americans who wanted to get photographed and Deborah Willis showed up with her own prop. When she walked through the door you could automatically feel the sadness in her heart. When asked what she brought she flipped over the sign that said “FIRED.” During this time we are seeing that African Americans are being the first to lose their jobs. She’s been without a job for five months now and has nothing left. Deborah doesn’t know how she’s made it this far and doesn’t think she’ll make it much farther. She is the perfect illustration of what is happening at the time with African Americans-Alyssa Fuentes

As I was entering one of the barns close to town I was surprised to find about 20 African American gathered around each other. As I got closer to them I asked what was going on here one of the females told me that all of the people in this photograph had nowhere to pass the cold winter so they found an abandoned barn where everyone agreed would pitch in what they could. She doesn’t know what is ahead for her, but what she does know is that there is no thinking forward; they have to think about today. The lady tells us that its hard with living with so many people but there is nothing anyone can do about it because the government is only making things worse. Winter of 1929-Alyssa Fuentes

Adam Sanders and his brother are walking one sunny morning looking for a job. They have recently lost their jobs and have nowhere to live or nothing to eat. They walk helplessly looking and hoping to find any sort of work. The temperature outside today is about 102 and the clothes they have on their backs are their only belongings they can afford to keep. They have left behind families and don’t know what lies ahead of them. When I approached them to ask what they were doing, the brother said “taking their walk of shame.” California, 1927-Alyssa Fuentes

Timothy Jacobs is photographed at his last week at work. Him and all the other construction workers have all been laid off. There is nothing to pay the workers and they have been working for low checks for two weeks now. When the workers complained to the boss, he decided to shut down the business. This is the last project they are doing before he is left unemployed. Everyone at the job site is upset and worried about their family and living situations. California, 1921-Alyssa Fuentes