Not much has been written of her early career, but it is known that Bettersworth did some artwork for advertising in the 1920s. She was exhibiting paintings in New York in the early 1930s and lived on Christopher Street in
Greenwich Village. In 1933, she began the year in January with a one-woman show at the Artists Gallery in the Tower Hotel in New York City and in October she exhibited
portraits in an exhibition at the same venue. Though not known as a portrait painter, her works were well received. In 1934, her black and white works, predominantly still lifes were shown in the Art Gallery of the Tower Hotel along with several artists from the Brooklyn Painters and Sculptors' Group. Her work in these shows was given attention and earned Bettersworth invitations to show works at the
Corcoran Gallery of Art and the
Museum of Modern Art. Her painting
Christopher Street, Greenwich Village (1934) was chosen by President
Franklin D. Roosevelt to hang in the
White House, when he saw it on exhibit at the
Corcoran Gallery of Art. By 1936, she and Howard were living in the artists' colony in
Woodstock, New York, where Beulah participated in exhibits. Betterworth was selected to complete two murals for the
Section of Painting and Sculpture.
White Gold in the Delta (1939) for the post office at
Indianola, Mississippi, and
Out of the Soil for the post office at
Columbus, Mississippi, both depict cotton harvesting scenes and did not shy away from depicting white foremen and black laborers. Bettersworth was not the original artist commissioned to complete the work in Indianola, but when
Walter Anderson was unable to complete the mural, she was selected. Both at the time they were installed and at present, there have been complaints that the murals depict racist themes and should be removed. The Indianola mural was destroyed and though the argument over whether the Columbus mural should be removed or remain, as it accurately reflects history, is unsettled, the mural is still in place. In 1947, the Betterworths sold their home in Woodstock and by the early 1950s they were living in
Tucson, Arizona, where Howard was working as an art director for the
Cabat-Gill Advertising Agency.
Erni Cabat and
Norval Gill, another WPA artist, had founded the agency in the late 1940s. Bettersworth died in Tucson on August 3, 1968, and was buried in Tucson Memorial Park Cemetery. ==Legacy==