“Raw news footage originally shot by staff of the Baltimore, Maryland station WMAR-TV (Channel 2).” August 16-17, 1984. WMAR TV via UB Archives.
Food Stamp “Fraud”
Reagan invoked the “welfare queen” alongside another, equally racist trope of the “strapping young buck” — a Black man using food stamps to buy T-bone steaks while thrifty Americans made do with hamburgers. Reagan’s message was clear: undeserving Black people were cheating the food stamp program, wasting benefits paid for by working white taxpayers. Reagan’s claims about fraud stirred up a media frenzy, with stories that persistently misrepresented the food stamp program, overstated the generosity of the benefits people received, and failed to mention that such cases were just a small fraction of the 22 million families enrolled in the program.
“Definitely not USDA Approved,” Time Magazine. Aug. 23, 1982.
Where is it located in the Museum?
Museum Map
LOBBY
THE
WISHING
TREE
WISHING
TREE
THE SNAP CAFÉ
AUDITORIUM
TERRACE RESTAURANT
The Hunger Museum
We Can Solve Hunger —
The Proof is in Our History
The Proof is in Our History
- 1.Welcome
- 2.Museum Lobby
- 3.The Age of Mass Migration - Landing
- 4.The Age of Mass Migration - Main
- 5.Immigration from Europe
- 6.Jane Addams and Hull House
- 7.A New Deal for Hungry Americans - Landing
- 8.A New Deal for Hungry Americans - Main
- 9.On the Breadline
- 10.An Unequal Recovery
- 11.How did the Food Stamp Program work?
- 12.1945-1965: WWII and the Paradoxes of the Postwar Era
- 13.Norman Rockwell, “Freedom From Want”
- 14.How did the National School Lunch Program work?
- 15.What were the structural limitations of the National School Lunch Program’s reach?
- 16.Hunger, Justice, and Civil Rights - Landing
- 17.Hunger, Justice, and Civil Rights - Main
- 18.Walk for Decent Welfare (Columbus, OH)
- 19.Televising the War on Hunger - Landing
- 20.Televising the War on Hunger - Main
- 21.CBS’s “Hunger in America”
- 22.President Lyndon B. Johnson
- 23.Senator George McGovern and Senator Robert Dole
- 24.Dr. Jean Mayer and the White House Conference
- 25.1975-1996: The Unmaking of the Great Society
- 26.Government Cheese
- 27.We Are the World
- 28.The Welfare Queen
- 29.Food Stamp “Fraud”
- 30.The Return of the Welfare Queen
- 31.Crises of New Proportions - Landing
- 32.Crises of New Proportions - Main
- 33.COVID-19
- 34.
- 35.Wishing Tree
- 36.Welcome to the SNAP Café
- 37.SNAP Cafe – Create a meal
MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger