During the Great Depression, the federal government employed 6,000 writers and researchers to fan out across the nation to create a historical document of the country's diversity.
Fifty writers were recently deployed for a modern-day duplication of the original project.
Farai Chideya talks with Matt Weiland, co-editor of State by State: A Panoramic Portrait of America, and the writer who tackled the state of Michigan, Mohammed Naseehu Ali.
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