Eudora Welty and the Segregated South

Discover some of the most striking Depression-era images taken by famed photographer and writer Eudora Welty. Welty made these images while working for the Works Progress Administration in the 1930s. The job led Welty to travel through the depths of Mississippi, recording the devastating effects of the Great Depression on whites and African Americans. Later, she recalled that it was her experience as a WPA photographer that inspired the honest and penetrating voice that characterized her writing. She explained that while working for the WPA, “my feelings were engaged by the outside world, I think for the first time.”