Foundation News

Photograph Exhibition at LSU Shreveport Offers Glimpse of 1930s in Northwest Louisiana (11/5/2009)

A grouping of 1930s-era photographs from LSUS Archives and Special Collections will be on display in the University Center first floor gallery through December 4, 2009.  The exhibit’s title, “Depression: NW Louisiana 1929-1939,” is intentionally ironic.  Much like today, northwest Louisiana seems to have withstood the Great Depression of the 1930s considerably better than many other parts of the United States.  In fact, in that infamous decade of national struggle northwest Louisiana made dramatic progress. 

In the 1930s the city of Shreveport experienced an unprecedented era of growth. Undeniably, individuals experienced hardships.  Shreveport attorney Scott Wilkinson recalled that after the stock market crash, “a very prominent Shreveport attorney...who was much more experienced and had a greater bit of prestige” came to him one day and asked for a $50 loan because he didn’t have the money to feed his family.  State legislator Jasper K. Smith recalled that a lot of homes were foreclosed in Shreveport.  Arthur C. Watson of Natchitoches related a story of being repaid a $410 debt with a turkey for Thanksgiving.  A Shreveport Sun headline on January 1, 1930, proclaimed, “We Need Jobs,” and underscored the plight of African-American workers, who were losing their jobs to desperate White workers.  Unemployment was greatest among farmers, who had been suffering economically already for four decades.  Despite these hardships, the development of the Louisiana oil and gas industry, along with improvements in transportation along the Red River attracted many people to the area.  During the decade 1929-1939, the population of northwest Louisiana grew, while the rate of unemployment remained comparatively low.  The parish seat of Caddo Parish became a large metropolitan area, and a leading center of manufacturing, commerce, and oil and gas distribution. In addition, Shreveport became North Louisiana’s leading cultural, recreational, and educational center.  By 1940, Louisiana had become the most highly industrialized state in the Deep South.

From its early settlement, northwest Louisiana has demonstrated remarkable resilience in the face of myriad hardships whether political, social, or economic.  “Depression: Northwest Louisiana, 1929-1939” explores the visual record of the region’s resilience through one of the nation’s greatest crises.  The University Center is located on the LSUS campus at One University Place in Shreveport, and the gallery is open from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.