Greenville is a quiet community, with its courthouse square and
tree-lined streets, and hasn't been known through the years for its
protest demonstrations.
But an exception occurred on the morning of April 18, 1934, during the
depth of the Great Depression and about a year after President Franklin
D. Roosevelt took office and started his New deal programs.
Hundreds of unemployed people on relief marched through Greenville's
downtown area to lodge 18 "demands" relating to their treatment as
recipients of emergency supplies, such as food and clothing.
A crowd estimated at between 500 and 600 people formed at the foot of
Mill Hill and then marched into the business district, around the town
square and then a few more blocks to the local headquarters of the
Illinois Emergency Relief Commission, located at Oak Avenue and First
Street.
The parade was headed by a man carrying a large American flag. Other
marchers carried banners with slogans such as "We Want Milk," "Fair
Distribution of Surplus," and "Doctor, Dental, Optical, Hospital
Service."
Other placards asked "50 percent Representation on Relief Board" and pay
at the rate of 62 1/2 cents an hour in a work program soon to be
initiated.
One of the 10 demands read: "More surplus relief, more varieties, such
as flour, meat, butter, eggs, cheese, lard, vegetables and fruits in
season, also replacement of meat which was delivered to us which was
unfit to eat this month."
There was no violence. In fact, the relationship between protesters and
the authorities was rather amicable. The Greenville Advocate reported
that the Bond County sheriff and deputy sheriff provided the day's food
for the demonstrators.
Virtually all the protesters were from outlying small communities in
Bond County, such as Pocahontas, Old Ripley, Panama, Reno and Sorento.
Leaders of the delegation conferred with relief administrators from
11:15 a.m. until 2:15 p.m. and then the gathering broke up and everyone
went home. The list of demands was sent to the relief commission state
office at Chicago.
The relief programs were funded by state and federal funds.
The 1934 demonstration was not an isolated one. Similar protests were
staged in a number of other places in the United States, possibly the
most vociferous being one involving unemployed men and women in
Minneapolis. There, on April 6 an estimated 4,000 people, including some
Communists, battled with police for hours and demanded work and improved
relief efforts.
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