Federal Writers' Project – Life Histories/2020/Fall/105/Section003/Robah Bowden

Overview

Robah Bowden worked as a farmer, holiness preacher, and janitor in North Carolina during the Great Depression. As a devout Christian, Bowden spread his faith through holiness preaching, focusing on those who did not have access to a church. Despite living in poverty on a small farm, he was happy to provide hospitality to anyone who requested. Bowden gave an insight into his life as an interviewee for the Federal Writers Project.

Biography

Early Life

Robah Bowden was born into a farming family in Virginia as the eldest of nine siblings. As he was a child, the farm was lost due to his Father’s drinking problem. Because of this, his family was forced to rent a farm in Stokes County, North Carolina. Bowden received the most schooling out of anyone in his family, but in order to provide for his family, he dropped out of school after finishing the seventh to start working. His first jobs were at cotton mills, where he earned six dollars every two weeks for his family. His father would take the pay and provide food and clothes using his money, leaving nothing for Bowden to spend on his own. Bowden reflects and reckons that this was a positive thing and made him a better person as a result.

Later Life

After Bowden’s father died, Bowden met Lola and quickly married her upon meeting. Bowden was not fond of the crowded city, so together, they moved out and rented a place in the country in Suffolk County, North Carolina where they would spend the remainder of their time. There, they lived happily together without children and an old dog named Bob. They enjoyed little things such as tending to their flowers and chickens. Bowden then decided to become a holiness preacher after seeing how the people in poverty needed comfort. Since there were no churches to preach in, Bowden took it upon himself to preach anywhere there was a crowd. Bowden was all about giving and helping the community, assisting anyone who needed it despite not being the most well-off himself. He was always warm and welcoming to visitors seeking hospitality, never turning down a stranger from his door. Since preaching wasn’t bringing in any money, Bowden later found a job as a janitor at a local school.

Social Contexts

Farmers

One specific group of people who suffered greatly due to the Great Depression were farmers. Many new developments were created around this time, such as the growth of cities and railroads for new markets for farm products. This would bring in more money, but little of the money from these new markets actually went towards farmers. Instead, it went to railroads, and other distributors and processors. New technologies were also created to make farmers more efficient, allowing them to produce more output with less land and work, but were very expensive. This expensive machinery introduced what economists call an economy of scale, which means that only the biggest farmers could afford to buy the new technology, so smaller farmers had to find ways to expand or be forced off of their land . As the Great Depression struck, farm income fell from $22 billion in 1919 to $13 billion in 1929. Farmers’ debts increased to $2 billion, and sharecroppers were often destitute when cotton crops failed or prices fell.

Poverty

Poverty was a major issue in the early 1900s and during the Great Depression. There was an uneven distribution of income and lower class, poor Americans, which made up approximately 60% of the population, had been suffering even before the Great Depression hit. During the Great Depression over 12 million Americans became unemployed and, at its peak, over 12,000 people were being made unemployed every single day. It was difficult for people in poverty to get an education since they needed to start working at a young age for money. In 1900, only 11% of all children between ages fourteen and seventeen were enrolled in high school, and even fewer graduated (1900s education). The number of school years completed by an average American over the age of 25 was only about eight years. This lack of education only kept the poor in poverty. As the depression hit, the economic situation in America pushed millions more into poverty. One way that people dealt with suffering in poverty was through Christianity. Under the pressure of the Depression, churches faced a decline in income, debts, and loss of staff. Through peoples’ goodwill, holiness preaching became a common practice in North Carolina to help people in need cope with their situation.

References

• “Economic Problems in the 1920s” BBC News. BBC. Accessed May 29, 2021. https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zp77pbk/revision/1.

• “Great Depression Poverty.” US History for Kids . Siteseen Limited, January 9, 2018. http://www.american-historama.org/1929-1945-depression-ww2-era/great-depression-poverty.htm#:~:text=Summary%20and%20definition%3A%20During%20the,of%20Americans%20lived%20in%20poverty.&text=During%20the%20Great%20Depression%20over,or%20relief%20systems%20before%201935.

• “Religion 1931-1939" Historic Events for Students: The Great Depression. . Encyclopedia.com. 15 Apr. 2021 .” Encyclopedia.com. Encyclopedia.com. Accessed May 29, 2021. https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-and-education-magazines/religion-1931-1939.

• “The 1900s Education.” Encyclopedia.com. Accessed May 29, 2021. https://www.encyclopedia.com/social-sciences/culture-magazines/1900s-education-overview#:~:text=Despite%20the%20push%20to%20improve,improved%20only%20slightly%20by%201910.

• Walbert, David. “The Depression for Farmers” NCpedia. Accessed May 29, 2021. https://www.ncpedia.org/anchor/depression-farmers.