The Tennessee Valley Authority During the 1930s, there were few regions of
the country that were worse off than the region known as the Tennessee Valley.
Where is the Tennessee Valley?
How did the New Deal help this area?
The area known as the Tennessee Valley includes portions of Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi,
Georgia, and Kentucky.
For years, this region was far behind the rest of the nation in many areas of life.
Electricity, running water, sewers, and proper sanitation were all elements of our modern
life that were sorely lacking in the Tennessee Valley during the 1930s.
One of the major goals of many New Deal programs was to help modernize the South and improve
living conditions in those states.
The most notable of these New Deal programs became known as the Tennessee Valley Authority
(TVA).
The TVA's goal was to build hydroelectric dams throughout the area, which would bring
electricity into thousands of homes.
Eventually, the TVA would construct and maintain more than 30 hydroelectric dams that provided
inexpensive power to millions of Southerners.
In 1933, it was estimated that only 2% of homes in the Tennessee Valley had electricity.
By 1945, this number had been improved to 75%.
Bringing electricity to the region was extremely important.
Not only did home appliances and electric lighting make life easier, but there were
other benefits as well.
Factories and other businesses were now able to locate in the region and employ thousands
of workers.
There were also health benefits to the increased availability of electricity.
Better lighting meant improved eyesight and a reduced risk of accidents.
Electric refrigerators allowed Southerners to keep food longer without it spoiling.
This meant they could purchase food from the grocery store, rather than depending on homegrown
produce and dairy products.
Electricity also meant that Southerners could purchase what the rest of the nation had been
enjoying for the past decade or more, a radio.
The radio proved very meaningful in the isolated Tennessee Valley region.
It helped Southerners feel more connected to the rest of the nation.
They could now listen to the same news and radio programs that people from New York to
Los Angeles were listening to.
Aside from providing electricity, the TVA was also concerned with soil conservation.
The organization promoted the use of fertilizers and crop rotation to improve soil conditions.
The TVA also had programs to improve fish and wildlife habitats, control wild fires,
and replant forests.
The TVA was not always popular.
The construction of the hydroelectric dams caused more than 15,000 families to lose their
homes.
Those areas were flooded to make lakes and reservoirs.
Also, many Southerners were suspicious of government officials.
Therefore, the TVA had to recruit local citizens to speak to their neighbors about soil conservation
techniques.
Other New Deal programs were created to help fight diseases.
Hookworm, pellagra, malaria, typhoid, and diphtheria had long plagued the South.
These diseases were spread through poor sewage and sanitation systems (which allowed germs
and bacteria to spread rapidly).
New sewer systems in major cities helped reduce the number of deaths caused by diphtheria
and typhoid.
New water treatment facilities also improved the condition of drinking water.
Swamp drainage in South Carolina resulted in a 16% drop in malaria cases, and mosquito
eradication efforts helped reduce malaria-related deaths by 66%.
There were similar successes in reducing the number of cases of dysentery, hookworm, and
pellagra.