But there is a darker side to these programs, one that is not captured in the story of the political battles that occurred in Washington. Nor is it captured by interviews with those who received land in these projects. One woman said “it was like we had died and gone to heaven” when they moved into their new, painted house at Clover Bend, Arkansas. Virtually everyone – even a man who left the project at Rena Lara, Mississippi, because he didn’t like the degree of supervision – recalled the projects positively.

We will speak to this darker side in a moment. But first, a sketch of our aims and methods:

The life of the people, black and white, in the present day Delta, animates our search for the legacy of the FSA projects in the Delta. However, our research is located on the white side of the color line, a little explored area. We have found that many questions simply can’t be answered without far more research.

We use all the tools of scholarship, including careful reading of the literature, courthouse and other records, and interviews. We also search the photographic record very carefully. Pictures may not always tell the truth, but they are a reliable indicator, for instance, of the race of the people depicted.