Many of us remember images like these from early on in the pandemic, of miles-long lines of cars waiting for food pantry distributions. Just like when Americans saw blocks-long breadlines in the Great Depression, images like these helped to make clear again that hunger is widespread and systemic, and that it can happen to anyone. And once again, in the earliest months of the pandemic, Americans demanded a governmental response. Despite a difficult political environment, we were able to use our federal safety net during the pandemic to stabilize and even reduce the number of hungry people in the U.S.
When COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic in March 2020, the vulnerability of many Americans’ lives were thrown into stark relief. Widespread business closures created mass unemployment, and food insecurity skyrocketed. Like COVID-related death rates, COVID-related food insecurity rose more sharply among communities of color and among populations typically overlooked and underserved, such as single mothers, LGBTQ seniors, and Indigenous communities.
Early responses to COVID-19 offered struggling Americans temporary emergency support in the form of stimulus payments as Congress passed vital — yet short term — improvements to federal nutrition programs. When President Joe Biden took office in 2021, he centered the government’s responsibility to take care of those in need with key policies that were part of his “American Rescue Plan.” While many of these programs brought a measure of stability to American households throughout the pandemic, their temporary nature meant critical programs were due to sunset with the end of the public health emergency, even as families continued to struggle.
Museum Map
WISHING
TREE
The Proof is in Our History
- 1.Welcome
- 2.Welcome
- 3.The Age of Mass Migration - Landing
- 4.The Age of Mass Migration - Main
- 5.Immigration from Europe
- 6.Early Activists
- 7.The Great Depression
- 8.Charity Is Not Enough
- 9.Hunger is No One's Fault
- 10.The New Deal
- 11.Political Compromises
- 12.An Unequal Recovery
- 13.Back Door Exclusions
- 14.Hunger, Justice, and Civil Rights - Landing
- 15.Hunger, Justice, and Civil Rights - Main
- 16.The Walk for Decent Welfare
- 17.Televising the War on Hunger - Landing
- 18.Televising the War on Hunger - Main
- 19.Hunger in America
- 20.The Great Society
- 21.Bipartisan Consensus
- 22.Nixon Works to End Hunger
- 23.The Unmaking of the Great Society - Landing
- 24.The Unmaking of the Great Society - Main
- 25.President Reagan
- 26.The Myth of the Welfare Queen
- 27.Cementing Stereotypes into Policy
- 28.A New Bipartisan Consensus
- 29.Where We Are Now - Landing
- 30.Where We Are Now - Main
- 31.The Pandemic
- 32.Patching our Safety Net
- 33.Our Wish for the Future
- 34.End tour
Welcome to the Hunger Museum, a virtual project of MAZON.