1.3- Society and Culture in Change, 1917-80

Question 1

🌍IMMIGRATION
-Legislation:

-what was the 1917 immigration act?

Answer 1

-lists the number of ‘undesirable’ immigrants to be excluded, including homosexuals, insane persons and criminals, it also imposes a literacy qualification for anyone over 16

Question 2

What was the 1921 Emergency Quota Act?

Answer 2

-restricts the yearly number of immigrants from any country to 3% of the total number of people from that country living in the USA in 1910

Question 3

1924 Johnson Reed Immigration Act?

Answer 3

-changes the quota system to 2% of people from the country of origin in 1890 census (tipping the balance further in favour of Northern Europe) until 1st July 1927; after that, the number of immigrants was to be fixed at 150,000 and the quota was to be based on the 1920 census

Question 4

What was the 1929 National Origins Formula?

Answer 4

-confirms the 150,000 limit and bans Asians immigrants altogether

Question 5

What does this suggest about 1920s legislation?

Answer 5

-over time increasing in severity and peaks at red scare

Question 6

What is the 1952 immigration and nationalist act?

Answer 6

-Did not allow for refugees and with the advent of the Cold War and an increase of refugees from places such as Cuba this led to the public criticising the quota system

Question 7

What is the 1965 immigration and nationality act?

Answer 7

-immigration from Asia quadrupled, changing the ethnic make up of many US cities

Question 8

What is the 1976 immigration and nationality act?

Answer 8

• while it did slow immigration, it also led to an increase in the number of illegal immigrants from central and southern America wanting to join their families
• expands to include Western Hemisphere for first time, number allowed is at 20,000 (for all)

Question 9

What other significant legislation was there 1940-80? (During and post SWW)?

What was the 1940 Alien Registration Act?

Answer 9

• wartime measure which required non-citizens to register with the federal government
• after war normalised as ‘green card system’- entitles to live and work in USA indefinitely
• made sure only went to legal immigrants- those processed and registered by immigration service

Question 10

What is the 1948 Displaced Persons Act?

Answer 10

-allows immigration of 415,000 people displaced by the war over 4 years but within quota limit (Truman asked for admissions to be separate from that of quota but failed to convince congress)

Question 11

What is the 1966 Cuban Adjustment Act?

Answer 11

-gives citizenship to Cubans entering country after 1959

Question 12

What is operation wetback?

Answer 12

• 1954

- deporting ‘illegal’ immigrants, mostly Mexican

Question 13

The impact of the Second World War and Suburban Life on women, 1941-60:

-what was the impact of the SWW?

Answer 13

• showed capable of men’s work
• 1940-Selective Training and Service Act- trained women eg: shipbuilding, aircraft and assembly
• only 16% married women worked in 1940- lack of childcare, in war women’s workforce rose 15-23%
• 1941 Lanham Act’s childcare provision- 1944-130,000 children in day care
• Women’s Land Army of America- farm workers, workshops and meetings and newsletter
• labour Bureau- 3 million working in agriculture June 1943
• empowered more women to seek opportunities

Question 14

What impact did the Second World War have on black women?

Answer 14

• could train for professions previously not welcome-nursing courses-1,108 in 1939 to 2,600 in 1945
• some employers still refused black women-stigma- sexual disease
• employees difficult- Detroit rubber plant- refused to share toilets

Question 15

What post-war changes were there for women?

Answer 15

• Half the married women who worked during the war left when ended- federally funded day care centres closed- 1946
• some forced- widowed, divorced- no choice
• dip after war but rose again especially 45-54 years old
• restrictions lifted due to war rarely re-instated
• married workforce rose- 10.1% in 1940 to 22.2% in 1950
• Black and white women been trained- Office, nurses…= continued after war- skills
• wider range of work
• more white married women enter work- developed aptitude and appetite for work
• changed attitudes- husbands and society- in 1936 82% of people thought married women should not work, 1938-78%, 1942- only 13%, by 1978- only 38%
• still lower wages than men- taken advantage of
• clerical, domestic or ship work mostly
• some progresses into insurance or advertising-main business of that office
• faces hostility- clerical group left and entered male world -black women faced even worse due to discrimination, prevent achieving as might have

Question 16

What was suburban living like?

Answer 16

• middle and upper class
• lure of home ownership- economic and building boom= houses more affordable and commuting distance to cities
• socially segregated
• low cost black suburbs also grew within reach of white suburbs for employment eg: as maids, cooks, nannies, gardeners…
• some integrated- rare but not unknown eg: 1957 William and Daisy Myers= faces similar dangers to integrating other facilities
• 1950s suburbs grew, 1960- 19 million more than in 1950
• schools, leisure facilities, theatres, shops…
• pattern of life similar across class and race- wage earning husband and housewife, if both worked- childcare- more expensive
• own social networks and lives
• women worked-excluded from friendship groups and if did not concern demands of group, some even rules about eg: did not allow fences
• labour saving devices and better off- cleaners, maids or cooks
• too much time but still aspiration of American Dream
• Bill boards, magazines, shows “I Love Lucy”
• many left for suburbs created a downward spiral in inner cities, non-white ghettos grew and fostered racism
• girls- work exceptionally hard to change situation

Question 17

What was the affect of suburban living on rural areas?

Answer 17

• Malls-focal point for rural housewives- variety of goods at better price than local stores eg: 1954- Detroit suburbs
• 1917-80= women who lived and worked on farms cut off physically and economically- more opportunities for urban women

Question 18

Who were William and Daisy Myers?

Answer 18

-3000 neighbours surrounded house- burned crosses, state officials-ban still harassed but Daisy invited to join neighbourhood association of women- how to integrate

Question 19

Name some other statistics and role of women in SWW:

Answer 19

• between 1950-70 American suburban population nearly doubled to 74 million
• 83% of all population growth occurring in suburban places
• Levittowns- 1946
• women earned 59% of the wages men earned in 1963
• 350,000 women served in US Armed Forced in WW2
• Women’s Airforce Service Pilots-accumulated more than 60 million miles in flight distances
• by 1945 nearly 1 out of every 4 married women worked outside the home-WW2
• Women’s Army Corps and in Navy (WAVES)- women accepted for volunteer Emergency Service
• in 1943- 310,000 women worked in US aircraft industry- 65% of industry’s total workforce (only 1% pre-war years)

Question 20

The emergence, achievements and limits of the women’s liberation movement, 1961-80:

-politics of equality:

Answer 20

• 1961- Eleanor Roosevelt- set up ‘Commission of Enquiry on the status of women’
• 1963- results- praises Equal Pay Act- wider job opportunities for women in federal government- presidential directive 1960- positive and significant- needed and enforcing
• uniformly loser and minimum wage regulations- did not apply to low paid work eg: hotel
• not enough day care
• non-white- worse position- racial discrimination
• women accounted for 1 in 3 workers but were discriminated in access training, work and promotion
• 1963 report- not encouraged to think about careers and encouraged (high class) into higher education only
• 1958 Education Act- job counsellors work with students- not many, only 12,000 for all state schools in USA- not trained- patchy and dangerous advice- doesn’t consider needs or abilities of girls
• influence 1964 CR act- included sexual equality but also found gap between passing of law and enforcement
• 7 million non white women long to minority racial groups- 1963 report
• twice as likely (Black women) to seek employment
• all forced into low- paid service occupations same with American Indians, Hispanics…= burdened with language problems
• unbroken cycle of deprivation- social cost- unhappiness, indignity and delinquency

Question 21

Betty Friedan:

Answer 21

• 1921-2006
• women’s rights leader and activist
• suburban housewife and interviewed women and college friends also housewives- disenchanted- wrote ‘The Feminine Mystique’- dissatisfaction of generation of independent young women
• psychologist and journalist
• constraints of suburban wife and problems if white, educated, married women
• widely read and argued organised themselves to be more active for women’s rights
• founding member- NOW- 30th June 1966- aimed to work in political system to get equality and enforce of CR act and Equal Pay Act
• held meetings, collected partitions and data, lobbied politicians (federal, state and local) change
• worked on educating people and campaigning about problems providing services and support working women
• congress- failed to pass ERA

Question 22

Young Radicals: 🗣💋

Answer 22

• most in liberation movement- under 30, white, middle-class and college educated
• jobs at lower level than men even if better qualifications
• world with black civil rights groups eg: SNCC or SDS. Although some sexism in these male dominated movements eg: stopped women speak in public meetings
• met with condescension, hostility and abuse
• set up local, radical groups to push for women’s liberation and equality- immediate
• change and drew parallels between their situation and black people- started phrase ‘women’s liberation’ and national magazine- 1968- ‘voice of the women’s liberation Movement’- 200 to 20,000 copies sold a year and collapsed under workload (run by volunteers)
• drew attention but some media focused on extreme and inflammatory element of feminism
• both strands of movement wanted similar things:
  1) Equal rights
  2) Opportunities eg: use contraception, married or not, whom to have sex, choose to have an abortion-decide about own bodies
  3) Pay
• strike in 1970- 50th anniversary of women getting vote= most feminist groups from NOW to National Coalition of American Nuns
• countrywide marches and demonstrations- ‘Don’t Iron While the strike is Hot’
• demands- equal opportunities in jobs and education, free childcare, community controlled, free abortion on demand
• publicity- membership of NOW rose over 50% (from 1000 in 1967 to 40,000 in 1974)- issue in public eye but also meant made fun- men
• 1970 Kate Millet’s Sexual Politics-tackled the dominance of men in literature and attitudes to women- criticised ‘patriarchy’ in literature
• Gloria Steinmen’s MS magazine catered for real needs of modern, professional women 1972
• possible some changes just due to liberal climate of 60s and 70s
• unlikely legislation only gained after campaigning for cause

Question 23

Opposition:

Answer 23

• particularly men
• some radical women’s groups- all men were enemy
• conservatives= rejected for ‘un-Americanness’-abandonment of traditional roles-swing away from 1960s liberalism-lost support with other liberal demands
• some objected for certain elements of women’s group- free contraception and abortion
• Phyllis schlafly (1924 to present) objected ERA set up group called Stop ERA (Stop taking our privileges) 1972- believed women designed to have babies, didn’t want women in army and lose tax benefit privileges
• conservative and set up Eagle Forum- support family values and against equal rights and abortion- one of reasons still not ratified

Question 24

What were the most significant national women’s liberation organisations 1960-70?

Answer 24

• 1966:
• National Organisation for Women (NOW)
• 1968:
• Federally Employed Women (FEW)
• Women’s Equity Action League
• 1969:
• National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws
• 1971:
• National Women’s Political Caucus

Question 25

What are the gains and limits to the women’s liberation movement?

Answer 25

✅Equal Pay Act 1963
✅Civil Rights Act 1964
✅1967 Johnson called executive order for affirmative action- improve employment conditions but ❌only covered federal employees of businesses working for federal government
✅1970 some states allowed abortions in tightly specified circumstances
✅1972 Eisenstadt and Baird Case- access to contraception to unmarried and married women
✅1973 Roe v Wade- abortion federally legalised
❌Rules on timing and health of mother
✅1972 Equal Rights Act passes as an amendment to constitution by congress but needed ratification by 38/ 50 states (deadline of 1982) which never got- act still not passed
❌Did not sign up to 1979 United Nations Policy of introducing non-discrimination against women in all aspects of life
❌Hard to enforce- found ‘acceptable’ reasons to discriminate against women
❌Women’s liberation movement disintegrated- conservative opposition and fragmentation- not all women wanted or needed same things
, broad aims of group were similar but local scale varied
-set up own campaign groups:
-congress of labour union women- rights of women in industrial work
-Mexican American Women’s Organisation
-National Alliance of Black Feminists
-middle class white women- did not represent women as whole, working class and non-white felt excluded

Question 26

Extract extra ideas:

Answer 26

• 1950s rise in participation of women in labour force
• more hospitable for women to work outside home
• change in social, economic and demographic changes in status of women eg: divorce more often
• argument that some women may have it better than others but overall prejudice about women affect lives of every women
• lack of job opportunities
• could exploit black women more
• stereotypical clerical work
• female obscured everything else-even if qualified

Question 27

IMMIGRATION:
-The impact of the Second World War ans government policy, 1941-80:

-what impact did SWW have?

Answer 27

• Italian (14.2% foreign-born immigrants), German (10.8%), Japanese (fewer than 1%)- classes as enemy aliens and treated most harshly due to Pearl Habour- 120,000 Japanese (75% US citizens) shut up in internment camps and property confiscated
• had to all obey many restrictions- ‘enemy’ immigrant population worsened even if lived in USA several generations. Name calling, window broken, customers shopped elsewhere…
• under suspicion- volunteered in US military (2nd generation allowed to join- secreted units)
• Germans served in US military eg:Admiral Chested Nimitz- US Pacific Fleet
• Enrico Fermi- example of suspicion- worked on secret atomic bomb project-took 10 days for paperwork to travel from one research site to another

Question 28

Overall what was the shift in attitudes over time?

Answer 28

• shift with government policy
• republican- restrict immigration
• liberal (Kennedy)- accept and adapt to immigrants
• different attitudes in different areas- depends on amount
• became more conservative (after liberalism) saw immigrants destroying American Culture
• when economy doing bad in 1970s blamed immigrants- first to lose jobs (for other Americans workers), depends on welfare, complained taxes spent on immigrants
• 1980- shifted towards a desire to control immigration legal and illegal-swing back to nativism (form of isolationism in 1980s)
• 1980- (housing and job shortages in Cuba) government sent refugees to Florida- arrival was last straw for many Americans
• Carter Administration handled things badly- officials couldn’t keep refugees out, rounded them up in awful conditions in refugee camps and prisons

Question 29

Overall what was the impact of government policy on immigration?

Answer 29

• reduce amount
• separate
• ‘Good’ v ‘Bad’ immigrants
• not very efficient- legal
• xenophobia- think bad thing and anti-immigration
• distinction between refugees and immigrants
• divisions and classifications of immigrants
• changing culture- more Asians, includes West
• having time keep reviving legislation- not much consistency or effective

Question 30

How did the percentage of foreign immigrants change in Europe?

Answer 30

• 1930-83% from Europe

- 1980-39%

Question 31

How did the percentage of foreign born Asians change 1930-80?

Answer 31

• 1930-1.9%

- 1980-19.3%

Question 32

How did Asian immigration change?

Answer 32

• 1965-70 immigrating from Asia especially Vietnam and Cambodia quadrupled (Vietnam War)
• Fall of Saigon 1975- USA took 130,000 Vietnamese refugees
• by 1985 over 700,000 of them
• changed ethnic make up of many US cities
• more refugee legislation

Question 33

What was Kennedy’s actions and attitudes towards immigration?

Answer 33

• opponent of quota system, pressed congress to make changes even before presidency 1958- wrote ‘A Nation of Immigrants’ enrich country than suspicion
• current -mockery of Statue of Liberty, only welcome in 1958 it met certain criteria
• assassinated as working on new immigration law (abolish quotas)
• Johnson brought Bill to congress after Kennedy’s death- law in 1965

Question 34

What were the consequences of government policy?

Answer 34

• 1952 Immigration and Nationality Act- still used quotas - public- outlived usefulness, did not allow for refugees even amidst Cold War
• hard to pass a new refugee law each time, 1953 onwards ‘Refugee Acts’-outside quota, set number
• hard to cope with quantity
• 1959 Cuba Fidel Castro- USA opposed, Castro set up Cuban Refugee Programme- 200,000 fled to USA
• Little support for open door policy and want quota system replaced
• after 1960s European immigration to USA slowed and people more accepting

Question 35

Immigrants from central and southern America:

Answer 35

• immigration laws- didn’t apply to Western Hemisphere especially Mexico= operation wetback- 1954 Immigration and Naturalisation Service- to try control
• Hispanic immigrants increased rapidly- 83% of Hispanic pop in cities by 1980- concern for government
• introduced 20,000 limit on entry USA in 1976 put measures to slow rate
• people used to no numerical limits- wanted to join families and work- crosses border- ‘illegals’

Question 36

Illegal immigrants:

Answer 36

• largest- Mexico- averaging over 60,000 a year in 1970s most went to California, Texas- agriculture and factories
• 1970 645,000 jobs created in Los Angeles County- 1/3rd jobs taken by Mexicans
• INS tried to stop illegal immigration but still impossible to stop smugglers
• In 1980 1 million ‘illegal aliens’ found, arrested and deported
• employees- cheap, exploitable labour- no questions
• policing bonding and tracking illegals- expensive
• issue more public in political debates over cost
• more felt illegal immigrants a problem
• couldn’t claim healthcare, education, unemployment benefit…
• some came from Philippines
• INS estimated mid 1970s 7 million illegal immigrants in USA- found and deported 600,000 a year

Question 37

The growth of the cities , 1917-41:

-where?

Answer 37

• industry was expanding and needed workers
• immigrants also significant factor in their growth
• tendency to gravitate to twins and cities that already had immigrants from their place of origin- sometimes family or friends- language and cultural connection
• New York- most reached first- landed in Ellis Island

Question 38

A melting pot:

Answer 38

• USA often called ‘melting pot’
• Reverend Jesse Jackson- Ebony Magazine in 1970- soup with chopped ingredients, separate bits but not all same
• informally segregated sections not just ghettos
• some bad shops, churches following religious practices of ‘old country’, newspapers reporting local news
• ‘little Italy’- Italian languages many Italian customs and a strongly catholic religious life
• ‘chinatowns’-although banned since 1882, Chinese community was one of most rigidly self-loathing because of significant cultural differences
• ‘old country’ became less important as traditions changed
• In 1914 there were about 1,300 foreign language newspapers published in the USA by 1960s there were just 75%
• foreign bien population rose
• Detroit- Ford Motor Works-large immigrant labour force, mass production techniques led to rapid growth of car ownership- higher demand and need for greater production, most came from Eastern Europe
• three largest groups in Boston’s 1920 foreign population were 24% Irish, 17% Canadian, 16% Italian whereas in New York the three largest groups were 24% Russian, 19% Italian and 10% Irish
• controlled by the legislation
• immigrants having children without entering records of ‘foreign born’- more integrated than parents
• many parents encouraged their children to get education, work hard and improve lives and position
• many children new situation and could set own targets

Question 39

Bottom of the heap:

Answer 39

• expecting to be welcomed
• bottom of heap-worst jobs, lowest wages and worst living conditions
• some managed to set up small family businesses meaning children got an education and child more up social tree
• 1920-some Irish politicians, lawyer people and policemen in Boston and New York
• contacts were important which ethnic communities allowed immigrants to develop these more quickly and use them to find work and somewhere to live
• had influence in politics- hub- local state and federal
• many voted for New Deal under Roosevelt, suffered under Republican laissez faire which hit urban areas the hardest
• exploited- worked hard for little money- let businesses run own affairs, worse if there illegally couldn’t ask for better conditions
• locally became important to appeal to the voters who came from the largest ethnic groups

Question 40

Integrating Ford’s Workers:

Answer 40

• Detroit’s population grew from 465,766 in 1910 to 993,678 in 1920
• in 1914 70.7% of his 12,880 workers were foreign born, only 29% American
• taught English as only 59% could speak English and by 1917 it was 88%, even had graduation ceremonies
• encouraged to adopt American ways and be patriotic about new country eg: American flag and celebrate national holidays

Question 41

• The nature of and response to immigration in the 1920s:

- how far did earlier immigration affect reactions to immigrants in the 1920s?

Answer 41

• Before FWW had an ‘open door’ policy to immigration
• only 3 acts- restricted types eg: disabled or Chinese (1882)- no restrictions were placed on yearly numbers
• traditionally USA welcomed immigrants- Statue of Liberty
• an average of 170,000 immigrants every year entered the USA- land of the free
• immigrants rose sharply, 1882 just under 650,000 immigrants arrived, in 1907 was 1.2 million
• increasingly from southern and Eastern Europe rather than Northern Europe, rose from 13% in 1882 to 81% in 1907
• went to live and work in cities, cities growing rapidly already due to industrialisation
• lots of movement, black people heading there from South and farmers trying to adapt to post-war conditions

Question 42

What was the Dillingham Commission?

Answer 42

• investigated the impact of immigration in the USA from 1907 and made its report 1911
• said immigration was beginning to pose a serious threat to American society and culture
• distinguished between ‘old’ immigrants from England, Ireland and Germany which adapted to American life and ‘new’ immigrants from southern and Eastern Europe who were seen as ‘racially inferior’
• made no concession for the shorter span of time the new immigrants had to adapt
• used to justify immigration acts in the 1920s eg: 1921 Emergency Quota Act 1921 which set limits in the number of immigrants

Question 43

What was the Immigration Restriction League?

Answer 43

• in 1894 set up to campaign to restrict immigration
• wrote books and pamphlets on dangers of floods of immigrants from southern and Eastern Europe setting people against them
• included politicians in senate and House of Representatives
• in 1896 congress passed an immigration restriction bill that included a literacy test and list of ‘undesirable immigrants’
• President Grover rejected the bill, presidents kept rejecting it but eventually in 1917 congress override President Wilson’s third veto and the bill became law

Question 44

Why legislate?

Answer 44

• post war isolationism- government wanted less contact with the rest of the world
• Dillingham report
• Red Scare 1919-20 which led to fears that immigrants may be communist, anarchist or worse
• spike in unemployment
• public reaction was extreme but were bombings by anarchists and strikes, riots in some cities
• after war anyone who was threat to wasps- black, Catholics, communists, immigrants…
• government tried to control rising hysteria with immigration laws and deportation; thousands deported during Red Scare

Question 45

What was the effect of immigration in the 1920s?

Answer 45

• wave of hostility from many more established communists especially in urban areas- created competition, just at same point as rural migrants black, white…
• 1910 1.2% of US urban population was black, 1920 this was 4.1%
• percentage of those who were foreign born or with foreign born parents went from 74-85%
• 1920s legislation was on immigration from Europe and Asia
• 20s-30s combination of Great Depression and immigration restrictions- slowed
• immigration from a South America esp Mexico increased rapidly- filled need for cheap labour in California and Texas
• some “official” registered by Bureau of Immigration, others illegally- employers didn’t ask to many questions- exploited due to their fears of deportation- poor living and working conditions
• in Depression many lost their homes and work and migrated towards California in search of work, began deportation
• approx 400,000 Mexicans deported during Depression

Question 46

• The impact of the Roaring Twenties, Great Depression and New Deal on women
• how were they discriminated against?

Answer 46

• paid less
• less likely to get a job
• more likely to get fired
• passed over for promotion
• unlikely to reach the top level
• less committed and more unreliable (maternity leave)
• not given credit for their intelligence or ideas

Question 47

What was the impact of the First World War on women?

Answer 47

• Before struggling to get right to vote
• war gave chance to work despite having lower wages than men
• when war ended most fired
• did pass 19th Amendment to the constitution which have women the vote under the same state rules as men- ratified 18th August 1920- could address broader issue of women’s rights
• 1920 League of Women’s Voters was set up
• poorer women did not vote or voted the way their husbands told them to
• few black women voted especially in south
• mainly educated white women

Question 48

Roaring twenties:

Answer 48

• economic boom
• mass production made consumer goods cheaper and hire purchase easier to buy
• road building-travel faster
• widespread electrification- electrical appliances- housework quicker
• expectation to return to ‘normal’ after war where women resumed traditional roles- exception for exceptional times
• unless family could not manage financially without wide working too
• some jobs like teaching were barred to married women- rule not to employ them
• mostly single, white, well off open to most change
• changing industries created more office jobs such as typing pools- became accepted women’s work
• Women’s Bureau of Labor was set up in 1920- improve women’s working conditions and campaign for the wider employment of women
• 1910-40 number of working women went from 7,640,000 (8.3%) to 13,007,000 (9.8%)
• last hired and first fired
• but at least some earning their own living

Question 49

Flappers:

Answer 49

• cut their hair short, short dresses, silk stockings, smoked and drank in public
• drove own cars
• behaved like young men eg: going to male-dominated sporting events like boxing without male escorts
• sexual freedom too
• jazz clubs and speakeasies
• shifted public perceptions of women but only small percentage of female population and many adopted more traditional role once they married- employers made sure of this

Question 50

Impact of the Great Depression:

Answer 50

• across class rather than gender
• unemployment, falling wages and rising prices
• middle class mostly got by
• poor- smaller if any reserves to fall back on
• some women supplemented their husbands income
• those who were widowed, divorced or deserted had to take any work offered
• 1932 Women’s Bureau of Labor found that 97% of women working in slaughtering and meat packing were the only wage earner in the family not because wanted to work
• Women’s Bureau was largely ignored within the Bureau of Labor- focus on women
• some felt actually hindering eg: government legislation eg: Supreme Court’s 1908 Muller V Oregon said women’s working hours should be no more than 10 hours a day but often poorest women forced to break the rules or lose their jobs. Some places eg: meat packing often required workers to work more than 10 hour day and Labor regulations often only applied to industrial work not farming or domestic work where a large proportion of labour force was black or women
• some could apply relief programmes if state had any- fight for Mexicans, black Americans, poor- all competing for same badly paid, back breaking work in appalling conditions
• hard for women to find childcare and to raise children with hours

Question 51

New York State and aid for families:

Answer 51

• 1931 New York State set up the Temporary Emergency Relief Administration (TERA)
• got $234 million in aid into helping families who were starving
• TERA’s research showed that 7.8% of all families in the state needed relief in Dec 1932, in Dec 1933 it was 8,4% and in Dec 1934 it was 17.7%
• Flora Rose (nutritionalist) drew up a budget for TERA to show how to feed family of 5 on $5 a week
• publicised by Eleanor Roosevelt
• nearly 1 in 5 needed help from TERA at its height
• sadly, because had to act quickly could not always send trained social workers or nurses to see families
• used volunteers who’s sympathy and even handedness varied widely eg: favouring Republicans or gave more food to some families than others

Question 52

Impact of New Deal:

Answer 52

• understood families were under immense pressure
• burden to feed fell mostly on women in the family
• New Deals Aid For Families with Dependant Children- poorest families but mostly men came first eg: unemployment and working conditions (Civilian Conservation Corps 1933-42 found young men 17-23 work, 2.5 million employed)
• Eleanor Roosevelt- helped jobless young women
• 1933 set up Camp Tera- funded by private donations
• held the White House Conference for Unemployed Women- camps became federally funded
• By 1936 36 camps taking 5000 women a year but only took for 2/3 months and provided no work or wages only training was in budget management
• Black women benefitted even less from ND- earned less and favoured white workers. One black women- Fannie Peck set up Housewives Leagues in Detroit in 1930- encouraged women to shop in black run stores and to organise local help for those in need. Spread for other towns and did help local people on a small scale
• For every Dollar a white man earned, white women earned 61 cents and black women 23 cents on average