President Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) created the Federal Surplus Commodities Corporation in 1933 as part of his New Deal during the Great Depression (the Depression) to buy surplus commodities from farmers and distribute them to families with low income, including as many as 158,000 Black Floridians who were receiving what was then referred to as “unemployment relief.” Examples of the food that people received through the surplus commodities program were lard, flour, cereal, butter, canned beef, and pork.
Access to enough food to eat was a challenge for many Floridians during the Depression, particularly people of color. More than 80 percent of Black southerners lived in deep poverty at the time. This is because, among other reasons, people of color experienced disproportionate unemployment due to racist employment patterns, such as the practice of hiring Black workers last, but firing them first. In fact, the unemployment rate for Black workers was between 50 and 60 percent compared to 25 percent for white workers. For those who were able to find jobs, Black workers during the Depression were paid less than half of what white workers were paid annually. As a result, many Black workers in Florida were driven into migratory work that forced them into a cycle of moving from Florida northward in the fall and back again in the spring. Living conditions for many migrant workers were deplorable, including having little access to food. In some instances, migrant workers who were facing starvation were offered, at most, one meal a day. Wages for migrant farm workers were so low (i.e., $300-$400 annually for an entire family of workers) that their income often did not even cover their costs of traveling to different locations to work.
FDR’s surplus commodity program had a profound and immediate impact on Florida, with federal officials noting a decline in malnutrition in rural communities across the state by December 1933. However, the surplus commodities program was not without shortcomings. Participating households had little control over the food that they received and were forced to make do with what was offered, which meant that families could not consistently put culturally appropriate and well-balanced meals on the table.