The Plight Of African Americans In The 1930's

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 1930’s was a time of great struggle in the USA. The New York stock market crashed in 1929 and triggered a spiral of economic depression, which hit African Americans hard.

Blacks were forced into sharecropping and tenant farming, which meant that they rented plots of land from rich white men, who were most likely their former masters, and paid with either a fixed high rent or a share of their crop. The only way African-Americans were able to afford any supplies or food was if storekeepers extended some credit and in return took a lien on the harvests of vulnerable African-Americans. They were always under the thumb of either their former masters or merchants and they would not be able to escape this until decades

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 1930’s were hard times for the entire working class, but as usual in history, minorities were hit the hardest. Especially the African American society had to suffer the most under the effects of the great economic depression; they were the first to be discharged from their jobs and the last to be hired. African Americans were even pushed out of jobs, which were previously scorned out by whites. Even if they were allowed to keep their jobs, they still had to face daily racism. Compared to the white folks, the wages of African American workers were at least 30% below white’s wages, even when performing the same job; considering, that even the normal wage of a white American was not enough to cover the subsistent level of expanses of a household.

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

Jim Crow law in U.S. history was any of the laws that enforced racial segregation in the South between the end of Reconstruction in 1877 and the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s. Jim Crow was the name of a minstrel routine performed beginning in 1828. The term came to be a derogatory epiblast for African Americans and a designation for their segregated life. Southern state legislatures passed laws requiring the separation of whites from “persons with color”. The Jim Crow law was from 1877 to 1954. (Britannica.com)

Great Depression was happening but also black people didn't have rights and that made white

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 World War I ended, the 1920’s brought on dramatic political and social changes. For most people, the 1920’s brought them more conflict. They did not like the new changes and were trying to keep them from happening. However, for a small group of young people the 1920’s was a great time to make progress and move forward from the conservative norm. After women got suffrage, they pushed through the double standards and tried and got jobs in factories and offices, instead of only doing domestic work. African Americans pushed through the discrimination they were facing and moved to the northern states, where they got better jobs and better opportunities to pursue their dreams in literature, art, music, and stage performance.

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.

The 1930's was a time of change for the blacks of the United States of America. However, this change was not all for the better. The main change for blacks during this period was that many of them migrated to the North, which in turn, caused many other situations, which included

The KKK forced many black americans who were living in the south to migrate north (McNeill). Those who stayed in the south often faced hardship throughout the entirety of the depression. Many were unlawfully imprisoned due to internalized prejudice within the judicial branch as well. Even when World War 2 began and the economy revived, racial minorities were still the last to be given jobs (McNeill). The popular phrase of “no jobs for blacks until every white man has one” sadly rang true. It was incredible difficult for black americans to get back on their feet after the Great Depression. A majority of black youth were killed, forced out, and then denied jobs for the while the depression existed.

The 1930’s started off with a huge economic crash which left the U.S. startled and in the Great Depression. The stock market had just crashed on October 24, 1929, also known as the Wall Street Crash. The “Jazz Age” had just ended and new musicians and artists were slowly rising up to their fame. African American’s were being discriminated against in the south. Many African Americans were farmers who had to suffer from the Great Depression as well as the Dust Bowl. As a result of the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl many African Americans had to go through the struggles of losing their jobs and having to move north in search for a new life. Many Americans had this problem as well, but the racism that was used against Africans, added to the severeness of the situation. African Americans weren’t able to get jobs, homes, or opportunities as easily as African Americans. Many African Americans were in terrible condition and most of it was because of the way that African Americans were treated. After President Roosevelt was elected a new hope had arisen through the country and Africans Americans were given another chance.

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