The Coit Tower murals were done under the auspices of the Public Works of Art Project, the first of the New Deal federal employment programs for artists. The artists were committed in varying degrees to racial equality and to leftist and Marxist political ideas strongly expressed in the paintings. The mural includes a scene with depression era tent dwellers washing their clothes and panning for gold in the river below a new hydroelectric plant as chauffeur-driven rich people watch. Differences in attire, vehicles and even the dogs owned by the two groups are used to illustrate the contrast in their respective economic situations.