Effects of the New Deal on African Americans

390 Words2 Pages
African-Americans were highly affected by the New Deal in the first part of the 1930’s. Urban historian, Kenneth T. Jackson wrote, “For perhaps the first time, the federal government embraced the discriminatory attitudes of the marketplace. Previously, prejudices were personalized and individualized; FHA exhorted segregation and enshrined it as public policy” (179). When Roosevelt first entered office, he didn’t seem to be concerned about the problems that African-Americans were facing. There were several committee chairmen who were southern Democrats and as Biles wrote, “the strength of southern Democrats in Congress dictated the president’s reluctance to challenge the South’s racial customs” (175). The New Deal programs that were created during the first part of Roosevelt’s term did very little for blacks and racial discrimination was widespread. Blacks were being paid less than whites in all of FERA’s programs, even though they said that racial discrimination was forbidden. The WPA did seem to help a little more that FERA, but as Biles notes, “Although the WPA proved a godsend for thousands of poverty-stricken blacks, they never received the benefits their percentage of the unemployed warranted” (179). I believe that it was because of Eleanor Roosevelt that changes really started to take place. Biles stated, “Perhaps Eleanor Roosevelt contributed most to the civil rights cause by acting as the voice of blacks in the White House” (182). She definitely proved to be a saving grace in the fight for racial equality. Although women weren’t treated the same as men during this time, they seemed to fare quite a bit better than blacks. According to Biles, “Women, like men, looked expectantly to the New Deal and experienced both stirring successes and disappointing setbacks” (194). The administration headed by Roosevelt was responsible for placing many women in
Open Document