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Greenville Public Library
“Dollar-A-Day-Boys”
at BRC
The Greenville Public Library is partnering with the Brethren’s
Retirement Center to present “Dollar-A-Day-Boys” in the BRC’s Brick
Room on Friday March 4th at 2:30 p.m. This delightful program is
a fun, nostalgic look at the 1930’s Federal Works Program that gave
employment to 3.5 million men. Author, songwriter, and filmmaker
Bill Jamerson gives a musical tribute to the Civilian Conservation Corp
with heartfelt stories, hilarious tales, foot-tapping music, and a
short video. The public is invited to this free event.
Bill says “Imagine, you're 17 years old trying to survive during the
Great Depression. Life is tough in Chicago. Food is scarce,
jobs are non-existent and you've turned to petty crime to eke out a
living. One day you hear about a new job works program created by
the federal government that pays a "dollar-a-day." You soon find
yourself in the Wisconsin northwoods spending long days planting trees
and building roads. Over the next year, you put on 20 pounds,
develop good work habits, gain confidence and make life-long
friends. The job skills you learned help you find a job when you
leave camp. Your experience turns out to be the most important
event in your life. It turned you from a boy into a man.”
Bill’s presentation has been described as a cross between Woody Guthrie
and Garrison Keillor in the oral tradition of sharing cultural and
ethnic heritage with humor, storytelling, and song. “The telling of
these stories is more than preserving the past; they are a reminder of
who we are, and how we got to where we are. And in this way, the
stories are as important as they are entertaining.”
For over a decade the Michigan based historian has been sharing
America's past with his History through Song programs. Bill has
also produced a PBS documentary Camp Forgotten and published an
historical novel Big Shoulders on the CCC in Michigan.
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