Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Impact of Poverty on Black Americans during the Great Depression
Impact of Poverty on Black Americans during the Great Depression
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
African American Life During the Great Depression The Great Depression lasted from 1929 until 1939, which is arguably the hardest ten years in American History. The Great Depression saw the highest unemployment rates, and all of America suffered together. Although all of America felt the stings of the Great Depression, African Americans felt it worse, because they had even lower unemployment rates, were facing racial discrimination, and received little help from the New Deal. These problems made life for African Americans during the Great Depression as well as after that much harder. While the unemployment rate in America dropped to almost 16% in 1932, and would later drop even lower, African Americans unemployment rate dropped to 50%.
Roosevelt was elected to office in the fall of 1932, and throughout his campaign promised the American people a New Deal to help them out of the Great Depression. This New Deal began to take shape in 1933 immediately following his inauguration. In this New Deal were reforms for banking, emergency relief programs, work relief programs, and agricultural programs. Following this first New Deal, was a second New Deal. The second New Deal included union protection programs, the Social Security Act, and programs to aid tenant farmers and migrant workers. The promise of these programs began to give hope to African Americans, they believed that finally they had a president who was also willing to help them as well, which Roosevelt had promised to do. Despite his promises there were still major problems in the New Deal for African
This gave many Americans jobs whether it was becoming soldiers or building supplies to help with the war effort. African Americans were even discriminated against during this effort. This caused President Roosevelt to issue Executive Order 8802, “stating that all persons, regardless of race, creed, color or national origin, would be allowed to participate fully in the defense of the United States.” (Race Relations in the 1930s and 1940s 1) This later led to African Americans to gain the respect of many White Americans. This was the single way to received a way out of the Great Depression, the African Americans had to fight for a country that had previously held them
The great depression was a very sad and hard time. This was a time where people had little money, no available jobs and just had a hard time with everything. Many people had nd any way to make money whether it was cutting kid’s hair in neighborhood, picking fruit, selling iron cords house to house or even painting a house for 5 dollars. Even though this was a very hard time some people still had hope that things would get better. This was a really bad time until Franklin Roosevelt who was for the government supporting the Americans and not the other way around became president.
The New Deal affected Black American ethnicity because they were still being persecuted and American society was still looking down at this ethnic group because skin color was key factor during that time period compared to the capability. People further argued that the “New Deal” wasn’t a success because it did not end the depression fully. However, the laws that Roosevelt created and passed were sure enough to bring back humanity to the Americans.
The Great Depression, beginning in the last few months of 1929, impacted the vast majority of people nationwide and worldwide. With millions of Americans unemployed and many in danger of losing their homes, they could no longer support their families. Children, if they were lucky, wore torn up ragged clothing to school and those who were not lucky remained without clothes. The food supply was scarce, and bread was the most that families could afford. Households would receive very limited rations of food, or small amounts of money to buy food. This led to the starvation of families, including children. African-americans faced tougher challenges than most during the Depression due to discrimination. The classes hit hardest were middle-class
But this was a hard task. And in less than months ,weeks, days or hours, many Americans were broke. This trouble caused hunger ,crop prices to lower, and little to no education for students. It also created dust ,new laws ,working with what you had, and lots of terror across the US. Many lost their jobs and tried to look for work. But it was very scarce to find. In 1933 the lowest unemployment rate was recorded at 15%.
People continue to argue whether the New Deal is radical or conservative today using many programs and outcomes as their support. The government imposed new radical programs influencing American society with changes in political and social reform. Conservatives at the time felt threatened by government interference feeling the changes led them toward a socialist style of government. Today, historians view the New Deal as more conservative, completely opposite of what conservatives felt at the time. With programs challenging economic, social, and political standards, the New Deal imposed both radical and conservative ideals into the American society causing Franklin D. Roosevelt to leave his lasting stamp and legacy on all presidents and generations to come.
In 1929 the Great Depression struck America. It lasted until World War Two in 1941. Although there had been depressions in the past, none lasted as long or were as severe as the Great Depression. In the 1920’s, a time period called the Roaring Twenties was in action. Everyone seemed to be doing great, taking loans out of the bank and borrowing money to buy the next latest product. Everyone had a job or career of some sort. Aside from most of the positive aspects of the economy in the 1920’s, farmers had a difficult time. Farmers also borrowed money to put towards new machinery, “only to see food prices plummet during the 1920’s when supply outpaced demand” (“The Great Depression” 1). Unfortunately, profits were not very high and the money that was used for updated equipment could not be paid back. Due to imprudent spending on American citizens’ part, the stock market crashed and investors and banks were impacted harshly. This is how the greatly known event called the Great Depression began. In the midst of this comes along President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, promising a “New Deal” for the nation. Would this deal be enough to save America’s economy and the life’s of its people?
The Executive Order No. 8802 (doc 15) stated, “it is the policy of the United States to encourage full participation in the national defense program by all citizens of the United States, regardless of race, creed, color, or national origin, in the firm belief that the democratic way of life within the Nation can be defended successfully only with the help and support of all groups within its borders.” This order ensured African Americans that everything possible was being done to end discrimination in the workplace. Therefore, the willingness of the Roosevelt Administration to recognize the existence of a racial problem in America and how they managed to ameliorate that problem, was unprecedented. The New Deal did not end the Great Depression, many were still living in poverty and were unemployed despite the new jobs being offered.
College graduation rate skyrocketed and over two million veterans went to college because of the GI Bill of Rights. This increase in college graduates caused a shift from blue-collar workers to white-collar workers. Whites were making more money because they had better jobs, thereby increasing income disparity between the whites and non-whites. While non-white veterans received a college degree as well, they were not given the same job opportunities as whites because employers would hire an educated white man over an educated colored man (text 578). Under the GI Bill, whites were able to use government-approved loans to build and buy homes. This created valuable housing within a few decades causing more wealth for whites. This bill was great for whites in America, but not great for colored people because banks would not usually grant loans for mortgages in the non-white communities. The minority groups were excluded from the white communities because of specific covenants within the white suburbans. The whites did not allow the non-whites to live among them.
"The Depression, The New Deal, and World War II." African American Odyssey: (Part 1). N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Mar. 2014.
The 1930’s were a decade plagued by the colossus economic downturn known as the Great Depression. With unemployment levels surpassing 20%, people did anything to earn money. This included riding the rail lines in order to look for work in other cities. In the American South, the problems of economic downturn and the problems of racial tension met in 1931 during the court case of the Scottsboro Boys.
...or their heroic efforts during times of such as the 369th battalion and Doris Miller. African Americans had more of their basic rights, political voice, respect, and were able to blend into American society by the end of World War II.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the 32nd President of the United States exclaimed, "It is common sense to take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something." The time period outlined from the 1930 's to the 1950’s is the movement from the Great Depression to an era of economic prosperity. The Great Depression was marked with excessive financial collapse. Gradually, new policy, innovative programs, economic affluence, and financially stability emerged. Additionally, the Second World War and the Cold War surfaced. The New Deal, admission into World War Two, and Cold War policy, gave rise to an affluent society that benefit Caucasians and stagnated the progress of the Japanese and African Americans.
During the great Depression, many people in the city were unemployed. A third of American farmers lost their land and had to move to city to search for jobs. Many African Americans were unemployed in the south, since white have priority over the job market than African Americans, it’s harder for them to get a job. African American started to move to North to search, but little difference did it make. Many took the position as janitors, street cleaners, and domestic servants. Mexican American and Chinese American were no better off, whites started to take over those jobs for Mexican and Chinese American. Women started to search for jobs as their family needed the money.
The era of the Great Depression was by far the worst shape the United States had ever been in, both economically and physically. Franklin Roosevelt was elected in 1932 and began to bring relief with his New Deal. In his first 100 days as President, sixteen pieces of legislation were passed by Congress, the most to be passed in a short amount of time. Roosevelt was re-elected twice, and quickly gained the trust of the American people. Many of the New Deal policies helped the United States economy greatly, but some did not. One particularly contradictory act was the Agricultural Adjustment Act, which was later declared unconstitutional by Congress. Many things also stayed very consistent in the New Deal. For example, the Civilian Conservation Corps, and Social Security, since Americans were looking for any help they could get, these acts weren't seen as a detrimental at first. Overall, Roosevelt's New Deal was a success, but it also hit its stumbling points.
This lead to in whites moving blacks out of jobs, they conventionally engaged. Racial wage differences (wages for black’s averaged 30 percent less than for whites) caused African Americans to participate in the Great Depression in stricter terms than whites. Finally, New Deal policies had tragic penalties for blacks. Because the Great Depression significantly reduced employment occasions in the North for blacks, the step of Southern black emigration slowed significantly during the 1930s. The Great depression though, increase the number of African Americans migrant workers. “The Great Depression also witnessed the entry of African Americans into the ranks of organized labor in unprecedented numbers. The formation in 1938of the Congress of Industrial Organizations, an outgrowth of the American Federation of Labors Committee for Industrial Organization established in 1935, was crucial to this development”