African American Depression Research Paper

When the Great Depression hit, no other minority group had it worse than the African Americans. Unemployment for African Americans was fifty percent or more, and even ninety percent in certain cities, while white unemployment ranged around thirty percent (Sustar). Aid was scarce from the Roosevelt Administration, where his NRA, National Recovery Act, was referred by blacks as the Negro Removal Act (Anderson). The NRA claimed that its goal was nondiscriminatory hiring and equal wages for blacks and whites, but they rarely employed blacks and when they did maintained racist wages (Sustar). It became more of a tool to keep African Americans from competing with white workers. Blacks were usually excluded from unions so they had to organize their own such as the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters (Sustar). But, those who tried to organize unions became targets for lynch mobs. Only the Communist Party actually took black workers seriously and helped organize a union for them (Sustar). Still, many blacks were forced to migrate out of the South and to the northern cities for a better opportunity, where the conditions were a little better. Patterns of segregation and racism in the South during the Depression remained relatively unchanged. Take for example the famous Scottsboro case. Nine black teenages that were on a train in Alabama were accused by two white women of rape, a crime that was unthinkable in 1930s Alabama. However, there was no evidence whatsoever that the women were raped. But nevertheless, the all-white jury in Alabama convicted all of the nine boys where eight of them were sentenced to death (Blunder). Clearly, being an African American in the early twentieth century was not ideal in a country where racist views were relatively normal. It didn’t matter if they were a decorated Olympian like Jesse Owens, or

The Great depression caused many problems for black people and they were greatly affected by it. Problems of the Great Depression affected every American, however, African Americans were the most affected. By 1932 half of Black Americans were out of work. In some Northern cities, blacks were fired so that a white person could take their job. But yet again, racial violence became more common, especially in the South. Even when President Roosevelt was trying to end the Great Depression there was still a conflict between the blacks and whites in the New Deal Housing and employment projects. This just goes to show that once everything has been set in motion that it can't really become a non-normal thing. Everyone was mostly worrying about themselves and their own people that they didn't bother

African Americans didn’t know that is was a Great Depression. African Americans have always been poor and knew how to survive. By 1932, approximately half of black Americans were unemployed, blacks always felt unemployed and under paid. Whites attempted to keep blacks out of work by not hiring African Americans. They used racial violence, and discrimination tactics to keep an underprivileged population depressed.

Mental illness is an increasing problem in America. Currently about 26.2% of Americans suffer from a mental disorder. A mental illness/disorder is a medical condition that disrupts a person’s thinking, feeling, mood, and ability to relate to others and daily functions. Mental illness can affect humans of any age, race, gender and socioeconomic status. However the care that is needed to effectively cure and help the people affected by the illness is not equal for everyone here in American, especially for African Americans.

The New Deal left a lot of African Americans behind and made it worse for some, this is because they were not given the same opportunities as whites in the New Deal. One thing that seperated blacks opportunities from whites is the fact that the Recovery Administration

Due to rapid growth and lack of employment, many were left without a job. This was painfully true for African-American people. At the end of the Civil War, freed slaves were made promises of a "new life". Unfortunately, these promises were false, African-Americans faced inequalities in more subtle ways. Although slavery had been abolished, Caucasians still felt as if African-Americans were inferior. Because of this, Jim Crow laws were introduced to make it harder for African-Americans to gain access to schools, hospitals, public places, or gain employment on the sole basis of race. This frustrated black community leaders, yet not all agreed on how to handle the racial discrepancies. W. E. B. Dubois and Booker T. Washington especially did not agree, Washington had a more passive approach that annoyed Dubois. For

The Great Depression. The worst financial crisis to ever hit America. Unemployment rates of over 25%. A 50% decrease in national income. Billions of dollars lost in a single day. (Trotter, pg.8) The Depression affected everyone in America. Young and old, rich and poor, black and white, none were spared. However, for America’s 12 million African Americans (Encyclopedia of Race and Racism) the Depression didn’t just start in 1929.(Africa to America: From the Middle Passage Through the 1930s) African Americans were a subjugated minority. Racism wasn’t only present in America, it was accepted by many. In the South, Democrats fought to keep African Americans under harsh segregation and oppressive laws. (Trotter, pg. 9) Efforts to relieve

World War 1 had a big effect on the life of blacks. McWhirter says that “the war’s end the previous November had opened a broader marked for cotton; mills across the world need[ed] it for civilian clothes.” African Americans were moving in large numbers from the South to the North and Midwest in what is part of the Great Migration. Blacks wanted to escape the racism of the South. They were trying to run away from poverty, physical violence, and segregation. The war brought many job openings in the North, a great opportunity for the blacks to start a new life. Mcwhirter states that this led to “returning veterans had trouble finding jobs, since few factories were hiring and southern black migrants had filled many jobs.” So as African Americans migrated to the North, they began to fill empty jobs in the factory and railroad industries. White supremacists saw the increased competition for jobs, and resented the blacks for taking them. In fact, white

For African American in 1939, segregation was still running high, especially in the South. With the Great Depression coming nearly to end, World War 2 beginning, and the Jim Crow Laws still in full effect, times were even harder than they were before. Blacks attempted to get employment to help their families, but the odds were against them since unemployment for blacks were twice as high as other races. African American juveniles who had jobs were either downgraded or fired altogether to give white people

African Americans were suffering even worse than they were before the Great Depression they were replaced by white men in any good jobs and many ended up on the streets, jobless. The white men got the most attention and the better opportunities. If there were any jobs available the white men had the higher chance of getting them.

The depression sank its teeth into America in 1929, from then until 1939 the American society was crippled. This does not help the black communities since they have been suffering through racism for many years, they are at an all time low. Some of their jobs are similar to being slaves, and do not pay well at all. Others are being accused of crimes they did not commit like Tom Robinson from To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. The Scottsboro Boys are a prime example of this. Many African Americans do not go to school instead they start working when they are extremely young. During this time racial tension is at an all time high,

Even though The Great Depression effect everyone, it effected African Americans more. It was a lot harder for them to find jobs, even before the stock market crash of 1929. “As cotton prices dropped from eighteen cents per pound on the eve of the Depression to less than six cents per pound in 1933, some 12,000 black sharecroppers lost their precarious footing in southern agriculture and moved increasingly toward southern, northern, and western cities,” (Trotter). As the number of people needing jobs in cities escalated, African Americans faced more difficulties. The unemployment rate for blacks was 50

Once the depression took full effect it was nearly impossible to find jobs and work. It grew so bad that the whites that were so desperate had to scare the African Americans into giving them their jobs whether it be through violence or threats. "’The shotgun, the whip, the noose, and Ku Klux Klan practices were being resumed in the certainty that dead men not only tell no tales, but create vacancies’" (Trotter). Even the jobs that were mostly done by African Americans that were usually found undesirable by whites were wanted by the unemployed caucasians.

Right after World War II, many Americans were encouraged by the steady and significant economic progress, including for Blacks. In 1950, many big factories just start up and need workers So, many African-American were offered the steady wages with higher than the pay earned by there parents. But, still, under Jim Crow, African Americans were relegated to the status of second-class citizens. African Americans were not allowed to run machinery or promote it. So, even though they were offered

    African-Americans had long before the 1940’s been taken advantage of in the United States. Beginning with colonization in the early 1600s when Natives were deemed prone to illness and too weak to endure the work of slavery, Africans were brought to the colonies from Africa to be sold in slave auctions. Many times there was hope for the Africans and later African-Americans that there would one day equality between their races and their superior white owners. Beginning with the American Revolution, slaves were promised freedom with British success and supporting the British troops. As the British lost, the grasping hope of freedom diminished. In 1808, the slave trade to the United States ended, but with millions of slaves in North America, slavery continued to thrive. The Civil War brought about another hope for slaves that