The collection is comprised of images of the Civilian Conservation Corps African American enrollees from 1933 to 1939. Materials were received by the Bentley in 2016 and in 2018.
The 2016 acquisition includes portrait-style photographs of predominantly unidentified men, assigned to work in Michigan company/camps including Company 670, Camp Bitely, project F-22 and Company 2695, Camp Free Soil, most likely, project F-7.
The title of each photograph was taken from the photograph's inscription, when applicable. All photographs titled "unidentified" had no identifying information, but may have been labeled with a date. After the photographs were digitized and became available online, some of the people depicted on the photographs have been identified by the public.
In 2018, Ray Lyons Jr. donated additional materials that were collected by his father, Ray Lyons Sr., a former member of the CCC. Mr. Lyons Jr. donated additional 30 photographs, 48 negative images, and a small number of clippings to the collection. The images depict African American members of the CCC at a number of locations, including Camp Bitely, Camp Free Soil, and Camp Walhalla. The pictures also document CCC projects such as the building of a Fire Lookout Tower, the clearing of fields and woods, and the construction of a stump fence.
On March 31, 1933, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed into law the Emergency Conservation Work Act (ECW), establishing the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). Officially named the CCC in 1937, this New Deal program was intended to provide federal unemployment relief for single men, ages 18 to 25, whose families were on the nation's relief roles. Enrollees lived in quasi-military camps, operated by the United States Army (at the time under the Department of War), in state and national parks and forests. Men worked on conservation projects such as combating soil erosion and forest fires, planting trees, building park recreation areas, constructing roads, and stringing telephone and electric wires. The CCC also aided during natural disasters such as hurricanes, floods, and droughts. Conservation projects were overseen by the Forest Service (Department of Agriculture) and the National Park Service (Department of the Interior). The Department of Labor was responsible for the recruitment of men. Enrollees earned a salary of $30 a month, $25 of which was sent home to men's families to aid the economic recovery during the Great Depression.
Robert Fechner was the first director of the CCC, serving until his death in 1939. James McEntee was appointed director in 1940 and served until the CCC ceased operation in 1942. The CCC camps were organized into "company units," denoted numerically, comprised of 200 enrollees. "Camps" were temporary units of 50 men living in barracks, and "sections" were work detail units of 25 men. At first the CCC had a small number of integrated camps, but by 1935 African American enrollees were segregated from white enrollees. Known as "colored" camps, these companies were assigned the designation of "-C." A total of 250,000 African Americans served in 150 all black CCC companies.
In addition to putting the Junior enrollees (i.e., unemployed single young men, primarily from urban areas), as they were called, to work, the CCC also administered camps for veterans and Native Americans without limitations on age or marital status. Also, to quell resentment between local people and the Juniors, the CCC employed Local Experienced Men (LEMs). LEMs lived in close proximity to CCC camps and offered forestry expertise and training to the Juniors.
In total, the CCC employed over 2.5 million men in 4,500 camps across the United States. Enrollees planted over 3 billion trees, addressed 21 million acres of land for plant disease and pest control, spent over 6 million days fighting fires,and laid 89,000 miles of telephone lines. In Michigan, part of the CCC's North Central Region, a total of 485 million trees were planted (the most in the nation), 504 bridges and 222 buildings were constructed, nearly 7,000 miles of truck trails/minor roads were laid, and 140,000 days were spent fighting forest fires.
Sources: Merrill, Perry H. "Roosevelt's Army: A History of the Civilian Conservation Corps 1933-1942." Montpelier, Vermont: Perry H. Merrill, 1981.
Speakman, Joseph M. "Into the Woods: The First Year of the Civilian Conservation Corps." Prologue 38 (2006). Accessed August 4, 2016. http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2006/fall/ccc.html.
