Federal Writers' Project – Life Histories/2020/Spring/Section24/Hubert Johnson

Overview
Hubert Johnson was a photographer and an interviewee for the Federal Writer's Project in 1939.

Biography
Hubert Johnson was born on August 28, 1905 into a home in Hickory, North Carolina to Mable and Miles Johnson. At age seven, Johnson’s mother died due to illness from her pregnancy. His father worked two jobs and was unable to be home to take care of him, so he moved in with his grandmother and uncle.

During this time, his uncle gave him his first working experience. Johnson enjoyed working. After going to school for a while, he decided that he would rather work. He worked many different jobs, including news stands, grocery stores, and print shops.

At age 17, Johnson’s car got hit by a train. He was very injured and had to stay in the hospital for three quarters of that year. He filed and won a lawsuit against the railroad company due to the accident, giving him enough money to travel with his friends when he was well enough to do so. During this trip, Johnson got into another car accident by running into a barricade and won another lawsuit against the contractor.

Once he was able to work again, Johnson decided to return home and look for a job he enjoyed. He and one of his friends decided to open a photography studio. Johnson became passionate about photography. Soon after the studio opened, his partner quit and Johnson became the sole owner of it. Johnson died on October 9, 1956.

Photography in the United States During the 1930’s
In the early 1930s, America was in the middle of the Great Depression and still wrestling with a lot of the same racial violence that occurred in previous decades. Photography became an important medium of propaganda. It showed a specific narrative of conflict that made people want to pay attention to what was happening. Franklin D. Roosevelt attempted to mitigate the suffering of the Great Depression with the Farmers’ Security Administration (FSA). This agency provided temporary housing and necessities for those who were forced out of their homes but it was very underfunded. So, photographers were hired to go around the Southern United States and take pictures of people and their current living situations. This fostered a lot of support for the FSA and raised adequate funding for the project. Photography continued to be a popular art form and means of fostering support for a cause.

Health Care in the United States During the 1900s
Medical procedure has increasingly gotten better as time goes on. In the early 1900s, health care basically consisted of private doctors for people who could afford them and underregulated public health centers. The lack of proper health care was especially impactful on the female population. Birth control was not widely available and pregnancy and birth was something a woman had to practically do on her own. This resulted in many pregnancy related deaths and illnesses. By the 1920s, health care had become more standardized. More regulations and higher payment for physicians was mandated. More public hospitals operating under these standards opened. All of this resulted in better care for patients and less illness-related deaths. However, all of the new standards these centers had to abide by increased the cost of medical care.