How Did The New Deal Help African Americans

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

There were some means that were legal at the time which were used to keep blacks from taking advantage of their new freedom. Laws were put in place making requirements for voting other than race, but it was clear these requirements were intended to stop blacks from voting. This was the time period during which lynchings increased. Groups such as the Ku Klux Klan, the Knights of the White Camelia, the Red Shirts, and the White Line participated in lynchings and other forms of violence and intimidation. People outside these groups also lynched African Americans for a variety of reasons such as intimidating blacks into not using their rights or punishing them for real or alleged crimes. (Royster 8) The most likely people to be lynched were black males, although some whites and occasionally

The New Deal was thought up by none other than president Franklin D. Roosevelt. Roosevelt’s intentions were meant to help with the current depression at the time which lasted, for about three years. The new deal was meant to make “colored” and whites equal, but that was not the case. Many citizens of the south did not believe “Negros” should get paid minimum wage, but expected them to be paid a lower amount. Many whites opposed any thought of equality between them and African American’s, but that did not stop the (NRA)National Recovery Act. A work program produced from the NRA the (CCC) Civilian Conservation Corps helped many “colored” American’s, benefit from the New Deal. The United States also needed an escape from their current depression, so Roosevelt creates the Work-Relief Bill with equality as his goal.

"A sense of belonging I had never experienced before." The new deal did nothing to improve black housing and living conditions. Black people were homeless or forced to scramble for housing that was either temporary or gravely filthy. This was because the housing authorities turned down black people for mortgages. The food and water were especially scarce for Black people. While the nation was of course suffering, black people were having even more difficult times because they found it hard at times to feed themselves and their families. Black people were killed for their jobs. Some white people were found unemployed and so they had killed black people just so white people could have a job. Not to mention the number of black people being lynched had risen. Black people were also being hired last. The white people took the "Negro Jobs", the ones they once deemed inferior. There were about 50 percent or more of black people who were unemployed. Black workers were paid less than white

based off of how the New Deal affected Native Americans discusses how African Americans had lower pay scales and last pick for jobs. (Doc B, African Americans and the New Deal). Along with low pay grades discussed in the article, there was also a group of authorities called The Federal Housing Authorities (FHA) whose job it was to refuse giving guaranteed mortgages for blacks trying to buy a house in a white neighborhood. However, the Working Progress Administration's (WPA) created a school lunch program helping many poor families get hot lunch meals for their kids at school (Doc D, Hot Lunches for a Million School Children). This shows that many people were helped by the New Deal. Therefore, the negatives of discrimination in that time frame was not helpful, in the end it is clear that the New Deal was helpful for

Although there was a lot of opposition to FDR's new legislation, it was also given a lot of support by others. In "The Roosevelt Record," editorial in The Crisis, the FDR administration is praised for being the first administration to pay attention to African Americans and to include them in the government's plans. [Document I].

Reconstruction did not help African Americans move closer to the American Dream. Even though there were positives, there were also negatives. Due to Reconstruction, hate groups started, there was not any safety for African Americans, and the Black Codes or Jim Crow laws. One of the most infamous hate groups to rise was the Klu Klux Klan. KKK for short. African Americans were terrorized by this group. They are responsible for many hangings, burnings, and other horrors that were inflicted upon African Americans. Also, there was not any safety from the groups. It was not like being in the center of a city was going to help. There are unfortunately many pictures of African Americans being hanged in very populated areas. Also, there was the rise of Black Codes(Jim Crow laws). It is like how the saying goes, out of the frying pan and into the fire. Some of the codes, but not limited to, was the Grandfather clause, which basically said that if your grandfather could not vote, you cannot vote. There were also many other ways that African Americans were restricted from voting. There was poll tax, and unfair evaluations of voting tests. This also included segregation of schools (separate but equal). There was even a law forbidding a white person from marrying a black person. However, even though all of these horrific things came because the end of slavery,

They started to see the government try to help them by including them in New Deal programs. The Roosevelt administration attempted to include African Americans in the New Deal Programs. The Roosevelt administration was effective in garnering the support of African Americans despite its limitations.(Doc I.) FDR created employment opportunities under his New Deal program. Some New Deal programs addressed economic problems and other slowed recovery. (Doc D.) Addressing the main problems allowed for them to create organizations that would at the end result help the american

Instead, most early New Deal programs specifically sanctioned discrimination against African-Americans. Furthermore, political fortitude to enact civil rights legislation and put an end to racial discrimination did not exist during the New Deal era.

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

There were many new job opportunities for African Americans. There were many new factories being built in the south, they could help build the railroad, the sharecropping system, and the homestead act gave them the opportunity to go west and start their own farms. Sharecropping was a very corrupt system. Former plantation owners would let the African Americans grow crops on their land, but a portion of the profits would have to go to the land owners, and many times they took advantage of the blacks. According to an ex-slave who had been a part of the sharecropping system, they could only make enough money to feed themselves and to buy a pair of overalls as most of the money went to the whites (Document 6). Many times the whites would take advantage of the fact that many of the blacks were uneducated. Although very few of the African Americans were educated, there were a few who had gotten an education and become very smart. One was W.E.B. Dubois. Dubois was a highly educated civil rights leader who focused on education and wanted to increase the black graduation rates. A quote from The Souls of Black Folks “We ought not forget that despite the pressure of poverty, and despite the active discouragement and even ridicule of friends, the demand for higher training steadily increases amount Negro growth.” (Document 9). Although African Americans jobs

This source is valuable because it provides historians with evidence that shows how the New Deal actually made employment much more difficult for African Americans. For example, the NIRA led to many blacks losing jobs, employment rates were lower than ever due to the tripling of Federal taxes, and many black sharecroppers faced numerous difficulties.as a result of various New Deal programs. The value of this source is limited because the author is writing for a libertarian organization, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt was a democrat. Also, the author does not include any personal account from African Americans that suffered the effects of the New Deal.

35) As Hoovers administration continued its business backing policies African Americans drifted towards Democrats. This accompanied a rapid urbanization that rose the percentage of African Americans living in cities from forty four percent to fifty percent in just 9 years, from 1930 to 1939. (Trotter, pg. 11) Seventy five percent of African Americans lived in the South, where Southern Democrats had oppressed and opposed African Americans since the end of the Reconstruction in the early 1870’s. (Americans at War) Despite the bad blood between African Americans and Democrats, they drifted in large numbers towards ‘the left’ as Roosevelt and his administration began to administer the “New Deal”. The New Deal was a series of programs and agencies set up to help the United States recover from the Depression. Over 20 million Americans sought assistance from agencies and programs such as Social Service. (Trotter, pg. 8) Many of these were African Americans, but over sixty percent of African Americans received no benefits from the New Deal due to a propensity towards racism in many of the local distributers of aid. (Trotter, pg. 11) According to labor laws supported by Roosevelt and the Democrats, it was not required to pay African Americans minimum wage. Roosevelt also refused to sign an anti-lynching bill into law, allowing lynching to remain legal in many Southern states, due to Roosevelts need of the Southern Democrats to maintain power in the Senate and

The New Deal and World War II both had an effect on race relations in the American West. President Roosevelt’s New Deal was an attempt to fix the hardships of the Great Depression. The Great Depression brought about a change in ideology and opinion that made the New Deal possible because of public support to fix the burdens felt by many Americans, not just whites. World War II brought fear, intolerance and increased racism toward minority groups in the West, specifically Japanese and Hispanic. Class and ethnic differences, as well as wartime tension led to growing hostility between whites and immigrants. However, the New Deal and World War II also improved on previous race relations resulting in shifts in Native American communities, ideology and their place in society. Both the New Deal and World War II were large scale, impactful events that shaped race relations negatively and positively during the first half of the twentieth century.

Government jobs and political rights were a goal for the new deal to let more Americans have access to the pleasures that any white man could have. The Shocking "grand father" laws were passed and forced Americans to take tests for the eligibility to vote. For certain minority groups, the tests would be made especially hard and a black person would almost never pass these tests. FDR spoke out against blacks being segregated from government jobs. "Black cabinets" or "black brain trust" became advisors of the president. William Hastie and Mary Leod Bethune were of the top names in this group of African Americans. They helped thousands to stay in school and learn new trades. With the help of Eleanor Roosevelt, many women took jobs at the White House. In 1936 the democratic convention declared that every platform should have an alternate of the opposite sex. The WPA hosted top jobs for women who worked in government. The most important of the women was Francis Perkins who became the first female cabinet member in the position of secretary of labor, and Florence Allen who was a judge of the circuit court of appeals.