black skilled worker. Moreover, an extremely low percentage of blacks had any opportunity to be trained in their respective fields. The pay for any black worker was low but the payment for unskilled black workers, who were almost never in demand, was well below the minimum wage at that time. The reasons that the TVA gave for not hiring
blacks and their reasons for feeling discriminated against were stated in a black journal in
April 1934:
For example, TVA authorities did not, and still do not, plan to use any Negro labor on the building of the Norris Dam itself. They claim that building separate dormitories and accommodations for the few Negro laborers representing the small Negro population around Norris would be so expensive as to materially advance the price of electric power to be sold by the TVA and would thereby prevent the providing of a true ‘yardstick’ to be used on public utilities throughout the nation…The Negro as desperately as he needs training, is to be absolutely excluded. He can not even live on the outskirts of the town in his customary hovel. This is a bitter blow to Negro leadership.16
FDR attempted to bring the modern society of the big cities into the rural parts of the country with the creation of the Civilian Conservation Corps. It became one of the most enduring and popular work-relief programs, lasting until the 1940’s. The CCC provided relief to young men and their families; it removed young people from the private labor market; and it provided basic education and job training. However, once again, African-Americans did not have equal access to this program. Although it was federally financed and administered, local social-service staffs selected participants. In some areas, this resulted in the exclusion of African-American youths. Because the War Department administered the camps where the workers lived, segregated policies of the armed forces were often followed. Additionally, there was a racial quota system that limited the number of black youths employed according to the proportion of blacks in the population. Since a larger proportion of African-American families than white families were on relief, the quota severely limited the participation of black youth. Typically, all-black camps were set up in areas where segregation was the law of the land.
The Works Progress Administration (April 28, 1935) was responsible for building hospitals, schools, farm-to-market roads, playgrounds and landing strips. The WPA created programs such as the Resettlement and Rural Electrification Administrations that provided federal relief to sharecroppers and supplied farmers with electric power. Part of the WPA, The Federal Writers Project, which focused its efforts on the Arts and Theatre, established projects that helped their respective fields become more popular. This included interviewing former slaves and writing narratives about the hardships that they faced during the late 19th century. But, the WPA had policies that were disturbing to the black population, including wage rates that were lower than those in the private sector and with geographic differentiations. The states in the Southeast, where the majority of African-Americans lived, paid workers sixty-five cents per day, the lowest wage rates in the country. As time went on, the WPA policies became more restrictive. Workers could not remain on projects longer than eighteen months. This was especially difficult for black workers because the private labor market did not absorb them as quickly as it had absorbed whites. There were many instances of inequalities in the WPA. Historian Anthony Badger commented on some of these inequalities:
But the elimination of discrimination by directive from Washington was not easy. Payments to blacks in the South never revealed the gross inequities that occurred under the WPA. Blacks in eight of thirteen southern states constituted a greater share of the WPA rolls than their proportion of the population. But blacks were discriminated against in job allocations: by May 1940 only 11 of the 10,344 WPA supervisors in the South were black.17
The rejection of blacks from joining labor unions was also found to be discriminatory and was summarized in the Journal of Negro Education in 1936:
Labor Unions refusal to admit Negroes in St. Louis building trades unions have kept Negroes out of practicality all skilled processes on jobs being erected from public funds in that city. An amazing situation arose where Negro workers obliged to picket a hospital building being erected for colored patients in the middle of the Negro district because the contractors refused to employ Negro skilled workers.18
Not permitting blacks to work on an all-black hospital construction project in a black district demonstrated the blatant racism that was prominent in so many New Deal programs.
Although the Public Works Administration was one of the most important and helpful organizations of the New Deal, it was not without discrimination. The PWA was created under the watchful eye of Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes, the administration’s leading advocate of equal wages for whites and blacks. The purpose of the program was to provide jobs for the unemployed and to donate money to important organizations without much funding. Even though Ickes meant well, many blacks found problems with PWA programs similar to those of the AAA and the NRA. Again, the federal government (Ickes included) did not hold any influence over the individual state governments. Therefore, the blacks continued to be denied jobs and equal wages. John P. Davis, an authority on the Roosevelt Era explained this quite well in his article for the Journal of Negro Education:
The Negro’s experience with the PWA has been no better than his experience with other New Deal programs. Negro workers in the building trades have been driven to the wall. They have been denied employment on public works projects and singled out in the South for sub-standard wages. Even under the new Works Relief Bill we find the establishment of work relief for families of five as low as from $10 to $17 for four 30 hour weeks…What hope can we have for the improvement of the lot of the Negro as long as the federal government joins with private employers in imposing upon Negroes by law and administrative practices sub-normal standard of living?19
The depression and collapse of America’s economy in 1929 enhanced the political, social, and economic burdens of black Americans. Any substantial gains in wealth that many African-Americans had enjoyed during the roaring 20’s became obsolete due to the harsh reality of the depression. For the unskilled laborers, tenant farmers, and household domestics, who made up the majority of the black working class, the depression was indeed immediate and as a result devastated many lives. In the mid 1930’s there were enormous wage differentials between black and whites, AAA cotton subsidy policies, discrimination is government-sponsored relief and public works, and restrictions in federal hiring practices. In John P. Davis’ “Black Inventory of a New Deal,” written in May 1935, the few benefits that had been won by black people during the first two years of the Roosevelt administration were listed. It was apparent even then, that the Roosevelt New Deal was not a fair deal for the black community:
“Perhaps the best indication of the effect that the New Deal had on the Negro was the increase of blacks on relief from two million in 1933 to three and one half million by January, 1935.”20
From 1929 to 1935, the nation had been engulfed in an extraordinary economic crisis. Blacks had been exploited and excluded in every possible way by white New Dealers and the federal government. One can conclude that many blacks felt that racism and exploitation had been heightened by New Deal programs. The NRA and the AAA, essentially the heart of the New Deal, failed to deal with the “special problems” confronting blacks during the depression, and their “ultimate impact was detrimental to black economic and social progress.”21 Blacks found themselves cemented in a futile position of segregated inferiority in all aspects of American society.
Between Roosevelt’s reluctance to strive for racial inequality, and the disproportionate funding of wealth to the tenant farmers, the New Deal was a broken promise to the whole of the African-American population. Historian John Byron Kirby summarized the New Deal and the dilemma faced by African-Americans when he wrote:
Racial ambivalence, based on the white man’s own racial conflicts, lay at the heart of the New Deal’s relationship to Black America and that ambivalence was clearly expressed in the mixed impact of its reform policies and the frustrations experienced by Blacks who tried to unravel its true meaning.22
Bibliography
Primary Sources
Alfred, Helen. “The New Deal and Housing,” Opportunity: Journal of Negro Life, Volume 12, p.23-25, January 1934.
This article, from a popular African-American Journal, outlines the troubles that many rural blacks had affording their own property due to the poor wage rates that they received.
Mary McLeod Bethune. “I’ll Never Turn Back No More!” Opportunity XVI
(November 1938), 325.
This source points out African-American discontent at the bias of the NRA and the AAA, and explains the poverty that African-Americans faced during that time period.
Bunche, Ralph J. “No Relief From Racism,” The Journal of Negro Education, p.35-55, February 1936.
In this article, Ralph Bunche, one of the most outspoken African-American men in his time explains each program and why each of them was detrimental to the African-American community.
Clayton, Cranston. “The TVA and the Race Problem,” Opportunity: Journal of Negro Life, Volume 12, p. 111-114, August 1934.
The purposes of the TVA are stated in this article, as well as why there was a wage differential between black and white unskilled workers.
Edwards, Thyra J. “Attitudes of Negro Families on Relief,” Opportunity: Journal of Negro Life, Volume 14, p.213-215, July 1936.
This article illustrates how the lives of African-Americans worsened (even while they were on relief) during Roosevelt’s first term.
Florant, Lyonel. “Florant Discusses Negro Congress and Opening of Council Meetings,” The Hilltop (Howard University Newspaper), 21 February 1936.
This newspaper article from Howard University conveys the importance of African-American council meetings in order to understand what black Americans in the nation’s capital could do to limit discrimination in New Deal programs.
Foreman, Clark. “What Hope For the Rural Negro?” Opportunity: Journal of Negro Life, Volume 11, p.105-106, April 1934.
This article, from an early version of Opportunity explains why rural African-Americans felt disenfranchised from the rest of the nation’s population. It appears that this feeling was caused by the amount of wealth going from the government to the pockets of many white individuals.
Johnson, Guy. “Discrimination in New Deal Programs,” Social Forces, p. 30, October
1934.
Explains why many minorities felt left out of the New Deal programs, and provides proof of the racism of state officials enforcing the New Deal programs (by means of dialogue between white workers in New Deal programs and officials).
The Journal of Negro Education, Volume 5, p.1-110 (many various articles), January 1936.
A wide variety of articles providing explanations for African-American discontent at the first three years of Roosevelt’s presidency. Hoover had promised prosperity, but the blacks did not experience it in his era or in the New Deal era.
Books and Articles
Badger, Anthony J. The New Deal: The Depression Years, 1933-1940. New York: Hill and Wang, 1989.
A good description of the First New Deal and what progress was made in the Second New Deal. Badger, concludes that the New Deal was an instant success for whites, but not for blacks.
Bunche, Ralph J. The Political Status of the Negro in the Age of FDR. Part I New York, 1932. Part II New York, 1968.
A recount of African-American lives in the age of New Deal programs, and how they dramatically shifted from bad to worse.
Burns, James MacGregor. Roosevelt: The Soldier of Freedom, 1940-1945. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Inc., 1970.
This book is an explanation of why the New Deal of the 1940’s treated everyone much better than in the 1930’s.
Dudley, William. The Great Depression: Opposing Viewpoints. San Diego: Greenhaven Press Inc., 1994.
A fabulous book that provides a topic of debate relating to the New Deal, and how two people can justify their claims for supporting each side of the argument. It makes use of primary source material also.
Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History, Volume 2, New York: Simon and Schuster Macmillan, 1996.
Explains why the Roosevelt/New Deal Era was just a continuation of the Great Depression for the African-American population.
Grolier Encyclopedia Online.
http://www.grolier.com
I looked up New Deal, African Americans, 1930’s etc.
I just found factual information about New Deal programs and Roosevelt’s presidency.
Kirby, John Byron. Black Americans in the Roosevelt Era, Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1980.
A behind-the-scenes evaluation of Roosevelt’s cabinet members during the New Deal era. Also, a large portion of this book is devoted to an explanation of Roosevelt’s lackluster effort to help African-Americans in this time of crisis.
Lash, Joseph P. Dealers and Dreamers: A New Look At The New Deal. New York: Doubleday, 1988.
A book debating both sides of the racial inequality issue. Also provides information on some of the major players in Roosevelt’s administration such as Harold Ickes.
Leuchtenburg, William E. Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal 1932-1940. New York: Harper and Row, 1963.
Shows that FDR’s vision of a New Deal was quite consistent with what actually happened during his presidency. However, it makes only a little reference to African-Americans.
Louchheim, Katie. The Making of the New Deal: The Insiders Speak. Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1983.
This presented the way FDR and his administration molded the New Deal into one of the most successful reform campaigns in United States history (from a subjective standpoint of course).
Rauch, Basil. The History of the New Deal 1933-1938. New York: Capricorn Books, 1944.
An objective illustration of each New Deal programs from the First New Deal, and how their affects could be felt towards the end of the Roosevelt administration.
Schlesinger, Arthur M. The Coming of the New Deal. Cambridge: The Riverside Press, 1959.
A history of the events that lead up to the New Deal and the issues that Roosevelt failed to address with his programs.
Schwarz, Jordan A. The New Dealers: Power Politics in the Age of Roosevelt. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1993.
A biography of Roosevelt’s cabinet members and how they contributed to the New Deal. Also, the views of many (white) Americans who praised the New Deal for its unbiased programs.
Watkins, T.H. The Great Depression: America in the 1930’s. Boston: Little Brown and Company, 1993.
An overview of the 1930’s and how many Americans’ lives were adversely impacted by the New Deal.
Videos
“The New Deal and New York,” The Great Depression, prod. Henry Hampton, 57
minutes, PBS video, 1993, videocassette.
A video focusing on the effects of New Deal programs in the city and a comparison of how both black and white industrial workers fared during the 1930’s.
Primary Sources
Alfred, Helen. “The New Deal and Housing,” Opportunity: Journal of Negro Life, Volume 12, p.23-25, January 1934.
This article, from a popular African-American Journal, outlines the troubles that many rural blacks had affording their own property due to the poor wage rates that they received.
Mary McLeod Bethune. “I’ll Never Turn Back No More!” Opportunity XVI
(November 1938), 325.
This source points out African-American discontent at the bias of the NRA and the AAA, and explains the poverty that African-Americans faced during that time period.
Bunche, Ralph J. “No Relief From Racism,” The Journal of Negro Education, p.35-55, February 1936.
In this article, Ralph Bunche, one of the most outspoken African-American men in his time explains each program and why each of them was detrimental to the African-American community.
Clayton, Cranston. “The TVA and the Race Problem,” Opportunity: Journal of Negro Life, Volume 12, p. 111-114, August 1934.
The purposes of the TVA are stated in this article, as well as why there was a wage differential between black and white unskilled workers.
Edwards, Thyra J. “Attitudes of Negro Families on Relief,” Opportunity: Journal of Negro Life, Volume 14, p.213-215, July 1936.
This article illustrates how the lives of African-Americans worsened (even while they were on relief) during Roosevelt’s first term.
Florant, Lyonel. “Florant Discusses Negro Congress and Opening of Council Meetings,” The Hilltop (Howard University Newspaper), 21 February 1936.