Chapter 22 Exercises: The New Deal in the Mountains — TVA, the CCC, and Federal Transformation

Exercise 1: Mapping the TVA System

Using TVA's own resources (tva.com) and historical maps, investigate the physical transformation of the Tennessee Valley.

a) Identify and map the sixteen dams that TVA built during its first two decades (1933-1953). For each dam, note: the river it was built on, the year of completion, and the reservoir it created.

b) Research the flood that struck the Tennessee River system in January 1942. What was the predicted flood level at Chattanooga? What was the actual level after TVA's dams regulated the flow? Calculate the difference and explain what it would have meant for the city.

c) TVA's territory covered parts of seven states. Which Appalachian counties were within TVA's service area? Which Appalachian areas were outside it? What difference did this boundary make in terms of access to cheap public power?

d) Identify at least one community that was submerged when a TVA reservoir was created. How many families were displaced? What compensation was provided? Where did the displaced families go?

Exercise 2: Primary Source Analysis — The Displaced Families

Read the following accounts and respond to the questions:

Account A — TVA relocation report, 1937:

"The families displaced by the Norris Reservoir have been relocated to suitable land in the surrounding area. Each family has been offered fair compensation for their property and provided with assistance in finding new homes. The relocation program has been conducted with full regard for the welfare of the affected families."

Account B — Oral history, former Norris Basin resident, 1978:

"Fair compensation, they called it. They gave us $400 for eighty acres of bottomland that my grandfather cleared himself. That land had been in the family since before the Civil War. You can't put a price on what we lost. It wasn't just land. It was the place where we lived, where our people were buried, where we belonged. They moved us out and drowned it all."

a) Compare the tone and content of these two accounts. What does each emphasize? What does each leave out?

b) The TVA report describes the relocation as having been "conducted with full regard for the welfare of the affected families." What evidence from the oral history contradicts this characterization?

c) The oral history mentions land "in the family since before the Civil War." Why is the length of family connection to the land significant? Is it relevant to the question of "fair compensation"?

d) Write a 400-word analysis of how power shapes narrative — how the same event (relocation) can be described in fundamentally different ways depending on who is telling the story and for what purpose.

Exercise 3: Rural Electrification — Before and After

This exercise asks you to investigate the daily impact of electrification on mountain communities.

a) Make a detailed list of the domestic tasks that were performed without electricity in a typical mountain home of the early 1930s: cooking, heating, lighting, laundry, food preservation, water access, ironing, etc. For each task, describe how it was performed and estimate the time required.

b) Now describe how each of these tasks changed after electrification. Which tasks were most dramatically transformed? Which were least affected?

c) The chapter notes that electrification disproportionately benefited women because women performed most domestic labor. Using oral histories or secondary sources, find at least two accounts from women describing the impact of electricity on their daily lives.

d) The chapter also notes that electrification connected mountain communities to the consumer economy. Was this connection entirely beneficial? What did mountain communities gain and what did they lose by becoming connected to national media and consumer culture?

Exercise 4: The CCC in Your State

Research the Civilian Conservation Corps camps that operated in your state (or a state of your choice within the Appalachian region).

a) How many CCC camps operated in the state? Where were they located? What projects did they work on?

b) Locate a specific CCC-built structure that still exists — a trail, bridge, fire tower, shelter, or park building. Visit it if possible, or find photographs and descriptions. Describe the structure and its current condition.

c) Were the CCC camps in your state segregated by race? If so, how many camps served Black enrollees? Where were these camps located? What projects did Black enrollees work on?

d) Find an oral history or personal account from a CCC enrollee who served in the Appalachian mountains. What did the enrollee say about the experience? What did the work mean to him?

Exercise 5: National Parks and Displacement — A Debate

The creation of Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Shenandoah National Park displaced thousands of families. This exercise asks you to engage with the ethical dimensions of that displacement.

a) Write a 300-word argument in favor of the creation of the parks, acknowledging the displacement but arguing that the conservation benefits justified the cost.

b) Write a 300-word argument against the parks' creation — or rather, against the method of their creation — arguing that the displacement was unjust and that conservation could have been achieved without removing families from their land.

c) Research whether any alternative approaches were proposed at the time. Could the parks have been created without eminent domain? Could families have remained on their land as residents within the park boundaries?

d) Compare the displacement of Appalachian families for national park creation with the Cherokee removal described in Chapter 4. What parallels do you see? What differences? How was each displacement justified by its architects?

Exercise 6: The Blue Ridge Parkway — Curated Landscape

Visit the Blue Ridge Parkway website (nps.gov/blri) or, if possible, drive a section of the Parkway.

a) Select three overlooks or stops along the Parkway. For each, describe what the visitor sees. What aspects of the landscape are visible? What is hidden?

b) Research who lived on the land before the Parkway was built. Can you identify specific families who were displaced for the Parkway's construction in the section you selected?

c) The chapter describes the Parkway as presenting a "curated vision" of Appalachia. What does "curated" mean in this context? What was included in the vision? What was excluded?

d) Is there anything wrong with presenting a curated landscape for public enjoyment? Write a 300-word reflection on the relationship between scenic beauty, historical memory, and the erasure of human stories.

Exercise 7: Arthurdale and Social Engineering

Research the Arthurdale subsistence homestead community in Preston County, West Virginia.

a) Who was selected to live at Arthurdale? What criteria were used? Who was excluded, and why?

b) Eleanor Roosevelt visited Arthurdale frequently and maintained a personal connection with the community. Using her letters and public statements (many are available in the Eleanor Roosevelt Papers Project), describe her vision for the community. What did she hope it would become?

c) The chapter notes that Arthurdale was criticized as paternalistic. What specific aspects of the program could be characterized as paternalistic? Were the criticisms fair?

d) Arthurdale still exists as a community today. Research its current status. Has the community preserved its New Deal heritage? What is the population? What is the economy based on?

Exercise 8: Community History Portfolio — The New Deal in Your County

Building on previous portfolio entries, investigate the New Deal's impact on your selected county.

a) Identify all New Deal programs that operated in your county (CCC camps, WPA projects, REA cooperatives, TVA activities, subsistence homesteads, etc.). Create a timeline showing when each program began and ended.

b) What physical infrastructure in your county was built by New Deal programs? Identify specific roads, bridges, buildings, trails, or parks.

c) When did rural electrification reach your county? Which cooperative provided it? Find accounts (oral histories, newspaper articles, family stories) describing the arrival of electricity.

d) Was anyone in your county displaced by a New Deal project? If so, document the displacement — who was affected, what compensation was provided, where did they go.

e) Write a 500-word assessment: Was the New Deal, on balance, beneficial or harmful to your county? Support your assessment with specific evidence.