The Writers' Project provided jobs for both beginning and experienced writers as long as they were unemployed and poor enough to qualify. Some of these WPA workers interviewed hundreds of African Americans born before the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment outlawing slavery in 1865. Some of the people they interviewed were small children when the Civil War ended, but others were old enough to have experienced and remembered many aspects of slavery.

Since the Federal Writers were getting meager earnings from the government, they were viewed sympathetically by the people they interviewed. A common strategy practiced by the writers was to make the people they were interviewing feel important in order for them to open up. Interviews were conducted on the street, in nightclubs, and in people's homes. Participating in the Federal Writers Project was an invaluable experience, especially for those who continued to write books after the project was terminated shortly following America's entry into World War II.

Among those Federal Writers who went on to gain national literary reputations were novelists Nelson Algren, Saul Bellow and John Cheever, and poet May Swenson. Distinguished African-American writers served literary apprenticeships on the Federal Writers' Project, including Ralph Ellison, author and college instructor, Margaret Walker, Miss Zora Neale Hurston, novelist and anthropologist, and Richard Wright.

There was also the WPA, Federal Art Project. Among the participants was Charles White an African-American painter best known for portraying African-American leaders and common African-Americans in more realistic and favorable or positive fashion. He became interested in painting murals while working for the WPA Federal Art Project, another government program that put people to work during the Great Depression. He was convinced that murals could be a useful tool for educating people about African-American history. For instance he painted "Contribution of the Negro to American Democracy" (Hampton University, Hampton, Virginia) in 1943. This is a mural that depicts African-Americans who played an important role in American history.

Another African-American painter was William Henry Johnson who is best known for his paintings of African Americans. A typical example of his paintings is "Going to Church" (National Museum of American Art, Washington, D.C.) which illustrates the subjects and style he chose and called "painting my people."

Relief also came from the building of the Grand Coulee Dam and the Hover Dam. Although construction of these projects was proposed long before the depression, the actual construction took place during the depression and helped provide jobs to many Americans. However, there is no evidence of African-American participation in the construction of the Grand Coulee Dam, Hoover Dam and many of the major New Deal projects.

Katherine Dunham
Katherine Dunham was a choreographer, dancer, and scholar whose carrier began and flourished during and after the depression. She received her bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees in anthropology from the University of Chicago. She began performing in 1931 in Chicago and then worked for the New York Labor Stage in the late 1930s, where she staged dances for The Emperor Jones, Pins and Needles, and many others. She also choreographed for, and performed in, motion pictures and Broadway musicals.

Billie Holiday
Billie Holiday also known as Lady Day is one of the greatest jazz-blues singers of all time.  She began singing in Harlem nightclubs and her recording session in 1935 brought her to public attention after which she became a vocalist for major orchestras including those of Count Basie and Artie Shaw. She made many recordings with the saxophonist Lester Young and with the pianist Teddy Wilson.

Duke Ellington
Duke Ellington, considered one the greatest composer, bandleader and pianist in the history of jazz. His orchestra had no problem finding work during the great depression. His orchestra performed throughout the United States and other countries around the world.

Louis 'Satchmo' Armstrong
Louis 'Satchmo' Armstrong's achievements in jazz was legendary. He started as cornet player as a young man before becoming a great trumpeter and singer. He was one those African-Americans who had no problem finding work and was successful during the depression. Louis 'Satchmo' Armstrong recorded extensively and was in demand across the country, playing important engagements in Chicago, New York, Washington DC and Los. He made his first visits to Europe in 1932 .

Ella Fitzgerald
Ella Fitzgerald was one of America's great jazz singers. Fitzgerald’s a wide vocal range combined with judicious choice of repertoire contributed to her popularity with jazz and non-jazz audiences. She performed and recorded extensively and even recorded with Benny Goodman. The depression did not slow her down and neither did it impede her success.

Dizzy Gillespie
Dizzy Gillespie was another African-American jazz trumpeter who did well during and after the great depression. He played in the big bands of such figures as Cab Calloway and Earl "Fatha" Hines and collaborated, in 1945, with saxophonist Charlie Parker to produce some of the most greatest recordings of the era.

Please note that the African-Americans mentioned above makeup a small, if not a negligible, number of African-Americans professionals and non-professionals who made a good living during the great depression. We need to know specific or individual stories of how others supported themselves and their families during the depression.