Works Progress Administration - Popular Culture

Popular Culture

Other references to the WPA in popular culture include:

  • WPA Blues, a 1937 song by Casey Bill Weldon, also recorded by Huddie "Leadbelly" Ledbetter: "Everybody's working in this town/ And it's worrying me night and day/If that means working too/ Have to work for the WPA"
  • Harper Lee's 1960 novel, To Kill a Mockingbird noted a typical comment. Bob Ewell, the resident slacker of Maycomb County, is described as "the only person fired from the WPA for laziness."
  • "I'm Still Here", a song from Stephen Sondheim's 1971 musical, Follies: "I've slept in shanties, guest of the WPA, and I'm here."

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