Essay on The New Deal's Failure to Aid African Americans

After a war that claimed the lives of more men than that of all other wars combined, much of the country was left in ruins, literally and figuratively. Dozens of towns in the South had been burned to the ground. Meanwhile, the relations between the North and South had crumbled to pieces. Something needed to be done so that the country could once again be the United States of America, not the Divided States of America. The years from 1865 to 1877 were a time of rebuilding – the broken communities and the broken relations. This time period was known as Reconstruction. Reconstruction was a failure on the basis that the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments that were passed should have given protection and freedom to the African

Being black during the Depression was very hard. You would be fired from any job you had and white men would take your place. On occasion if their were any whites out of work, they would call on blacks to be fired. Blacks didn't have jobs so they had no way to sustain themselves or their family. Although there wasn’t slavery during the civil war, African Americans would still sometimes be hired to work at homes to clean, and cook. The Library of Congress wrote, ¨The problems of the Great Depression affected virtually every group of Americans. No group was harder hit than African Americans, however. By 1932, approximately half of black Americans were out of work (Lib).¨ There was barely any money to pay Americans with, so they made significantly less in 1933, than in 1929. With no money there were more people starving, and only surviving off of their self grown foods, and local farming. Even with local farms, and gardens there still wasn’t enough for everyone to eat, due to not having enough money to buy seed.“In 1933, the average family income had dropped to $1,500, 40 percent less than the 1929 average family income of $2,300” (Enc). People were starved because of the lack of food. Many were forced to leave their homes and live on the streets, because they had nothing. From 1931-1940 alone there were no less than 8 million deaths in the United States. “Every sixth American farmer was affected by famine. People were forced

The United States encountered many ordeals during the Great Depression (1929-1939). Poverty, unemployment and despair clouded the “American Dream” and intensified the urgency for solutions to address and control the nationwide damage. President Franklin Roosevelt proposed the New Deal to detoxify the nation of its suffering. It can be argued that the New Deal was ineffective due to the inability to end the Great Depression with its short-term solutions and created more problems, however; it was successful in regards to providing direct relief for the needy, economic recovery and some structural reform for the majority of the general public in the severity of the Great Depression.

African Americans lifestyle did not see much change from before the depression and during the depression in the sense of the capital dollar. They assumed the New Deal brought up by president Roosevelt at the time would bring change to their life, but the white public would not stand to be on equal terms with a person of color. “Unemployment was rampant, and many whites felt that any available jobs belonged to the whites first.”i Many white Americans did not want African Americans to be paid minimum wage, but be paid lower than minimum wage. Industry’s also wanted to pay their employers a different wage depending on the color of their skin. “Negro unskilled labor,

After the wealthy and roaring 1920s, America entered one of the hardest economic crises in history in the late ‘20s and early ‘30s. The majority of people sank below the poverty line, but through the government and Franklin Delano Roosevelt (known as FDR), America was able to endure this time of struggle. The Great Depression lead to organizations such as the Public Works Administration and the National Recovery Administration which helped when so many Americans were unemployed, and struggling to stay healthy.

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

Beginning in October 19, 1929 and ending in 1939, the American people had no hope having endured severe unemployment, food shortages, and dreadful living conditions. Life started to turn around when Franklin D. Roosevelt stepped into office and put his New Deal programs into play. Franklin and his administration quickly addressed the problems that had led to the Great Depression by executing policies that would successfully address reform, relief, and unsuccessful recovery. Following World War II it ultimately repaired most of America from the Great Depression but, Franklin’s New Deal programs were the major cause that stopped America’s economic downfall. By Franklin stepping into office and presenting his New Deal programs, this relieved

During reconstruction the United States was divided on social issues, presidential campaigns were won and loss on these issues during this period. The struggle for development of African Americans and how they initiated change in political, economic, educational, and social conditions to shape their future and that of the United States. (Dixon, 2000) The South’s attempts to recover from the Civil war included determining what to do with newly freed slaves and finding labor to replace them. The task of elevating the Negro from slave to citizen was the most enormous one which had ever confronted the country. Local governments implemented mechanisms of discrimination to combat citizenship

In the 1920s, Americans suffered to find work, put food on their children and have morale. In 1932, a new president, Franklin D Roosevelt, promised Americans an escape from the Depression with his plan called the New Deal. Although the New deal did not benefit all Americans equally, it succeeded in strengthening the economy and creating a safety net for Americans to rely on.

Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal programs were a weak response for severe consequences that resulted from the Great Depression, and other conflicts that were occurring in the 1930’s. Although the New Deal programs positively revamped the political system and helped unemployed citizens get jobs, it challenged the order of the Executive Branch of the Federal government, gave false hope to the unemployed, and crushed the spirits of people of color and immigrants with its discriminatory views.

According to document 5 highest employment rate was 1933 and the percentage was 20.6 in the data table and in the second chart it was 1933 and the percentage was 25. World War 2 broke out so a lot of people went to sign up for the military and women went to work in the factories. This was a success and the New Deal wasn’t was because of the unemployment rate decreasing. According to document 7 most New Deal Programs discriminated against blacks. Programs like the AAA kicked over 100,000 blacks off their land in 1933. Another program NDA lowered pays for blacks. FHA didn’t give any loans to blacks. CCC maintained segregated groups. This document supports that the New Deal was a failure because most new deal programs were racist against blacks. According to document 3 the U.S. government went to a deficit. In 1931 people got laid off from jobs. It was a failure because the debt

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

In 1933 Franklin D. Roosevelt promise of the “New Deal” goal was to provide all Americans with security and bolster the American economy, with the intention to assist the under privileged. There was “many inequities in the New Deal housing, agricultural and economic programs; blacks had opportunities to obtain employment, some in areas previously closed to them.” The Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933 was one of the laws that was passed to assist farmers by cutting production and forcing up food prices. But instead it left many poor Black sharecroppers out of work and caused black consumers to pay higher food prices. The New Deal program eventually made it harder to hire individuals at a minimum wage if they lacked skills. As the result many Blacks in the South and North was dealt a hard hand, which resulted in many losing their jobs.

The legacy that President Hoover passed to his successor was disastrous. The country experienced an unprecedented economic depression. However, in his speech during the presidential campaign in 1936, he expressed a deep concern that the New Deal is directed against the interests of ?poor Americans?[footnoteRef:2]. He also blamed the Roosevelt policy in violation of ?fundamental American ideals and liberties?[footnoteRef:3]. While Roosevelt was rebuilding America, Hoover attacked