Hard Times:  The Great Depression brought overwhelming hardship to every corner of Oregon.

The CCC Experiment: The Civilian Conservation Corps proved itself invaluable during the worst of the Depression, employing thousands of Oregonians and constructing parks, roads, and buildings all over the state. 

The Most Visible of Relief Agencies: The Works Progress Administration proved to be the New Deal’s most successful direct relief program in Oregon.

Muddling Through: Even with a variety of New Deal programs offering relief from the worst of the Depression, most Oregonians had to rely on their wits to scrape by.

To Reverse the Failure of the Nation's Indian Programs: New Deal reforms in Indian policy sought to address more than half a century of assimilationism.

A Time of Beginnings and Endings: World War II reshaped every corner of the state sending Oregonians to distant defense industries or into the armed forces.

War Production: Henry Kaiser opened three shipyards in the Portland area that employed as many as 120,000 during the peak of war production. Out of necessity, he built Vanport in 1942, a project designed to house and care for the workers in his various plants. 

Cramped Quarters: Often out of necessity, some black war-industry workers found temporary shelter within Portland’s older African American community.

Women in the Work Force: The Kaiser shipyards committed early to the hiring of women as war production workers. In addition to housing, Kaiser recognized the need for health and child care facilities in order to keep production at full steam.

The Change to Mechanized Processes: Oregon’s labor shortage forced the development of mechanized processes in the natural resources industries during World War II.

Japanese Removal: What some have called the “good war” also produced one of the most notable violations of civil rights in American history.

Relocation Camps: Japanese relocation centers were, in effect, concentration camps, surrounded by barbed wire and guarded by U.S. Army troops.

Anti-Japanese Sentiment: Those Japanese who returned to their communities following release from the relocation centers found themselves the target of strong anti-Japanese sentiment.

Full Employment and Regular Paydays: War needs produced a demand for lumber that at times exceeded the industry’s ability to provide.

Reconversion: With the war coming to a close, industrial America turned its eyes toward manufacturing a peacetime economy.

Time of Great Change: The state’s population became increasingly skewed toward urban settings, especially in the Willamette Valley.