Pros and cons of New Deal to Black Americans

Give 4 context points for the new deal

• followed the depression of 1929(-39)

• series of economic and social measures to assist Americans (particularly poor and unemployed)

• BAs were disproportionately effected by the Depression, and the New Deal did not help them as much as WA

• the economic gap between BAs and WAs grew

What percent of BAs were unemployed during the depression?

50% (2x the rate of WA’s (25%))

in some cities it was 70% (Atlanta, Georgia)

How many people were lynched per year during the Depression vs during the 1890s

single figures (GD) per year

187 per year in the 1890s

Why couldn’t most Southern BAs vote (1933-41)

• threat of violence

• intimidation

• poll tax

• literacy tests

Why did BAs vote dems

• benefits of the new deal

• trust in eleanor roosevelt (helped represent black americans)

• FDR promised ‘no forgotten races’ in a 1936 speech to BAs (as he wanted black votes in pivotal states like NY and Illinois)

• increased BAs in politics (black cabinet + 150,000 black federal employees in 1941 but 50,000 in 1932)

How many BAs voted Repubs in 1932 and Dems in 1936?

2/3s Repubs 1932

70% Dems 1936

85% of NYC’s black Harlem ghetto voted for FDR in 1940

this is proof that Black Americans overall preferred life under FDR’s ND as they wanted him again

What were the benefits of economic policies to BAs in the ND?

1. sharecroppers became independent farmers

2. social security act 1935

3. Wagner Act 1935

4. employment - 1m jobs for BAs and training opportunities

economic benefits - details on sharecroppers

• Farm Security Administration allowed many BA sharecroppers to become independent farmers.

However, in 1938 the federal government forced landowners to properly pay the former sharecroppers and 200,000 were evicted

however, the AAA’s (Agricultural Adjustment Administration) policies of acreage reduction forced more than 100,000 BAs off their land in 1933 and 1934

economic benefits - social security act 1935

• by 1935 30% of BAs on relief, and 10% WAs

However, SSA 1935 and minimum wage legislation law excluded domestic/agricultural workers (2/3s Southern BA workers and 40% of BA workers overall)

economic benefits - 1935 Wagner Act

• allowed all workers to join a trade union

however, the act excluded domestic/agricultural workers (2/3s Southern BA workers and 40% of BA workers overall)

however, the congress of industrial organisations (trade union) allowed BAs - 200,000 BA members by 1940

economic benefits - employment

• WPA 1935 set up works projects and sponsored BA writers including Zora Neale Hurston

• ND gave 1m job opportunities for BAs and federal funding for training for 500,000 young BAs (National Youth Administration where Mary McLeod was a Director of Black affairs)

• agencies trained 5000 new BA teachers and 250,000 BAs were taught to read and write due to the agencies

however, employment discrimination continued (lower skilled jobs and lower wages while WAs got the best and highest paying jobs) and BAs were last hired and first fired.

economic BA disadvantages

• CCC was segregated (BA camps often built on remote federal lands away from public outcry)

• only 6% of CCC were black

• FDR focussed on restoring US economy and employment rather than BA rights - also didn’t want to loose the support of Southern White Dems

What were the benefits of social policies to BAs in the ND?

housing:

• federal housing administration built 500,000 homes

however, many BAs were prevented from moving to white neighbourhoods as banks refused mortgages to BAs

however, there was de facto segregation in the north for housing

Harold Ickes (PWA leader)

• spent over $45m on black schools, hospitals and housing

Harlem riot 1935 success

• led to the removal of racist officials, and improvements in local governments and desegregation of city hospitals

debt slavery:

• in 1941, convict leasing peonage (debt slavery) were banned

social disadvantages:

segregation

• housing

• CCC

• still widespread due to Jim Crow

lynching

• climate of fear continued especially as FDR refused to make lynching a federal crime which gave racist state governments the option of enforcing it

however, decreased figures: single figures/year during the GD but 187/year during 1890s but arguably not due to the New Deal

What were the political benefits of the new deal?

1. increased black voice

2. Eleanor Roosevelt

3. public service

political benefits - increased black voice and influence

• FDR increased black federal employers from 50,000 in 1932 to 150,000 in 1941

• FDR created the Black Cabinet (unofficial group of black advisors to FDR) in the mid 30s

political benefits - Eleanor Roosevelt

• attended black functions

• persuaded FDR to set up the Fair Employment Practices Commission

• invited Marian Anderson (black) to sing at the White House in 1936

• Met with BAs civil rights activists such as Mary McLeod Bethune

• in 1940 promoted National Sharecroppers Week and the National Committee to Abolish the Poll Tax

However it was not removed until 1964

• 1938 attended the biracial Southern Conference of Human Welfare (Alabama) and insisted on sitting next to black delegates. the meeting was about equality before the law and in voting

• told FDR in 1935 to endorse the Costigan-Wagner anti-lynching legislation

But he didn’t due to fear of loosing Southern WA votes before his next election

She was helpful in spreading awareness and was important as she was bringing civil rights of black americans into the spotlight but she made little impact in terms of change and the rights of black americans.

political benefits - public service

In 1933 50,000 BAs in public service but by 1946 there were 200,000

political disadvantages - voting

FDR was inconsistent in his support of ending the poll tax and failed to support a bill to end the poll tax, preventing millions of BAs from voting

Also still disenfranchisement in the south

overall conclusion

some efforts to improve particularly employment

but limited and overall subject to structural racism

some black americans benefitted and race consciousness and awareness grew, especially in terms of political figures (E. Roosevelt, Mary McLeod Bethune, black cabinet, etc.)

still no abolition of poll tax, lynching (federal crime) and segregation - all of which took away basic civil rights of huge numbers of black americans