Final answer:
The Farm Security Administration was established in 1937 to assist farmers during the Great Depression, providing financial support and promoting soil conservation. Despite its efforts, it often favored large commercial farms, leading to protests and the formation of the Southern Tenant Farmers Union. The FSA also commissioned photographers to document rural hardships, creating iconic images of the era.
Step-by-step explanation:
The Farm Security Administration (FSA) was established in 1937 to replace the Resettlement Administration as part of the New Deal efforts to combat rural poverty during the Great Depression. Its aim was to provide various forms of aid to impoverished farmers, including sharecroppers and tenant farmers. The FSA delivered over $1 billion in assistance, which helped to resettle farmers onto productive farmland and taught them conservation practices. However, this aid was often distributed unevenly, favoring larger commercial farms over the smaller ones, prompting protests and the formation of the Southern Tenant Farmers Union.
Moreover, the FSA is also well-known for its influential photography program, which sent photographers like Dorothea Lange and Walker Evans to document the hardships faced by those in rural America during the Depression. The work of these photographers under the FSA has provided iconic images that illustrate the era's struggles and are still widely recognized today. Despite the challenges and disparities, FSA played a significant role in addressing the needs of rural impoverished populations and in documenting the human face of the Great Depression.