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Farming For A Better Future, page 37
There is very little information regarding the treatment of and amenities provided to people of color at U.S.N.P. #2 and elsewhere in the Shoals by the U.S. Army and the TVA. The programs and employment offered by these institutions were open to all Americans but were also segregated. Some of the most useful information comes from photographs taken to document programs such as the Civilian Conservation Corps and TVA. These photographs often specify that the housing, parks, or other subjects are related to the “negro” or “colored” community. (Right) 1940 Federal Census Page for the “TVA Village II” (National Archives and Records Administration via Ancestry.com) At least part of Village No. 2 was designated for people of color as evidenced by the federal census and historical photography. In 1940, the census confirms that only white families lived in Village #1, but of the 189 households in Village # 2, 19 of them housed families of color. An image dated May 6, 1918 included in the Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) of 1941, is labeled “U.S. Nitrate Plant #2, Muscle Shoals Ala., Airnitrates Corporation, Date May-6-18. Colored Village.” The image shows a single building with 15 residential units. Several men are still working on the structure but have stopped to pose for the camera and a few families are posing on the front stoops of their unit. More housing was constructed in the 1930s when the TVA took over the plant. These small, singlefamily houses had a gable roof, a brick chimney, and a front and back porch. A communal garage with six bays sat between and behind a group of houses. Exactly which houses were reserved for the families of color is unclear. However, in the photographs available of Village #2, most of the homes appear to be nearly identical. The village did have a recreational hall with its own large garage for explicit use by the African American workers and their families, although not all the African American workers lived in the village. 37 - COLBERT - (4565)