
Voices From a Forgotten Revolution
The Rural Electrification Act (REA), passed in 1936 as part of the New Deal, enabled the federal government to provide loans to rural electric cooperatives. Access to electricity transformed education, farm work, and home life for communities previously ignored by big electric companies. Nearly 50 years after the passage of the act, the North Carolina Association of Electric Cooperatives conducted 44 interviews with rural residents whose lives were affected by the REA.