Chapter 2 - The quest for civil rights 1933-45

Question 1

how did the great depression effect Black Americans

Answer 1

falling crop prices prompted thousands of southern black farmers to migrate north to cities where black unemployement was 5x higher than the white population

Question 2

what happened to the black workers who moved to the cities

Answer 2

they were usualy last hired and first fired

Question 3

example of a vigilante group designed to exclude black workers

Answer 3

Black shirts of Atlanta

Question 4

what did the percentage of black owned property fall to from 1929 to 35

Answer 4

35% - 5%

Question 5

How did the employment by the federal government change under Roosevelt

Answer 5

Number of black Americans employed in the federal bureaucracy increased from 50,000 to 150,000by 1941

nearly 50 were employed in senior positions and where nicknamed the Black Cabinet

most notibly Mary McLeod Bethune

Question 6

How did Eleanor Roosevelt show the administrations sympathy for the Black Americans

Answer 6

displayed her opposition to racism on many occasions

e.g flew on a plane piloted by black airmen because their prowess was doubted by white racists

southern press hated her and said she had black ancestry

Question 7

what was the least helpful new deal agency

Answer 7

the agricultural adjustment agency (AAA)

Question 8

what was the agricultural adjustment agency?

Answer 8

southern white landowners were paid to remove land from production and often removing black tenants and sharecroppers too

Question 9

how many sharecroppers were evicted between 1933 -40

Answer 9

200,000 and werent provided with any federal government compensation
this is because the new deal relied upon local and state authorities to distribute federal government aid and many southern white people didnt do this

Question 10

how did the Works progress Administration provide black people with employment opportunities

Answer 10

350,000 worked for WPA a year on average between 1936-40
WPA education programme employed over 5,000 black teaches and taught over 250,000 to read and write.

Question 11

what happened when WPA imposed racial quotas on contracters

Answer 11

the number of black people working for them rose from 8% to 15%

however in the north only 5% had supervisory roles

Question 12

what was the Tennessee valley authority programme

Answer 12

new deal programme designed to revitilise the economy of several impoverished southern states through provision of flood control electricity and employment

Question 13

why did the TVA upset some people

Answer 13

as they only began to help black workers after the 1936 NAACP exposure of discrimination in the TVA

Question 14

why’d poverty cause black people to have a disproportionate amount of help from the new deal

Answer 14

they were poor

received 1/3 help from Federal emergency relief administration

Question 15

what was the rational recovery administration NRA used for that made black people feel angry

Answer 15

encouraged employers to have minimum wages and maximum hours however black workers were avoided paying

felt it stood for the Negro removal act

Question 16

what did the state of Georgia feel about black people

Answer 16

govener thought that black people were lazy and needed a good dose of castor oil

white Georgian officials excused the relief for hack people and said that they could get by with less as they had a lower standard of living

Question 17

how did the national security act effect black people

Answer 17

were excluded from pensions and unemployment provisions

however some of it was due to racism as lots of farm and domestic workers weren’t covered by the act due to its seasonal/temperary nature

Question 18

how much of the new housing did black people receive from the 1937 Wagner steagsll national housing act established by the housing administration

Answer 18

had 1/3 of the housing made for low income black families

Question 19

what did the new deal establish a principal of

Answer 19

racially I inclusive if not racial equal entitlement

Question 20

when was the positive impact of Roosevelt and the new deal made clear

Answer 20

when black Americans changed there traditional voting allegiance from Abraham Lincolns Republican Party to Roosevelts democratic party

Question 21

how many black voters voted for Hoover compared to Roosevelt

Answer 21

70% black voted hoover

76% black voted Roosevelt

Question 22

what made Roosevelt unwilling to promote a civil rights legislation

Answer 22

the need for southern white democrats votes in congress

however Roosevelts administration an the new deal helped make civil rights a national political issue and reinforced the contention of some back activists that the government was key to civil rights advances

Question 23

why did many black Americans not demand civil rights during WW2

Answer 23

feared appearing unpatriotic in wartime

because they feared violence (large scale race riots in Detroit and Harlem in 1943 and Jim Crow laws in the south)

Question 24

how many black Americans served in the armed forces

Answer 24

over one million

resented the hypocrisy of the country with a clearly unequal black population that claimed to be fighting for democracy abroad

Question 25

black people in the army were refused lunch at lunch counters but who could get some

Answer 25

German prisoners of war

Question 26

what did the resentment created in the army encourage

Answer 26

resistance and activism

February 1942 black Pittsburgh courier introduce the double V campaign

fighting for victory overseas and against discrimination at home

Question 27

what did the NAACP membership rise from during WW2

Answer 27

50,000 - 450,000

most new members were southern professionals

Question 28

what happened in New Orleans 1943

Answer 28

bus driver ordered black soldier to sit at the back of the bus and all 24 black passengers protested resulting in them all being jailed

Question 29

how did black participation in the war provide greater bargaining power

Answer 29

trade union leader A.Phillip Randolph threatened that 100,000 black Americans would march on Washington and bring it to a standstill unless discrimination was ended in the armed forces and in the work place

Question 30

what did Roosevelt establish in 1941despite being advised against it

Answer 30

Fair employment practice committee (FEPC)

banned discrimination in defence industries in which 2 million black people were employed

led to 4% rise in black people employed in defence industries

Question 31

in 1944 why did Roosevelt have tp use the war labour disputes act and send in 8000 troops

Answer 31

because there was a strike by public transport who objected to the FEPC ordering them to employ black drivers

Question 32

what was established in 1942

Answer 32

core

congress of racial equality

campaigned for desegregation of interstate transport and organised sitins in segregated Chicago resterautns

Question 33

what did the GI bill of rights 1944 offer

Answer 33

veterans government aid for college eduction or to set up a business

Question 34

what issue caused the trail of Gaines VS Canada 1938

Answer 34

the segregation policy of the university if Missouri wouldn’t allow Gaines any further education despite it being the only law school in his state

Question 35

what progress was made in Gaines Vs Canada

Answer 35

the case was win by Gaines and it was recommended that a law school should be developed in Lincoln university for black people

Question 36

what were the limitations of the Gaines Vs canada

Answer 36

many still believed in the separate but equal policy and refrained from addressing segregation inn higher education

southern states still offered less opportunities

Question 37

Positive impacts of the new deal

Answer 37

Roosevelt made civil rights a national political issue and reinforced that it was the duty of the government to help

roosevelt passed order 8802 banning racial discrimination in the defence industry

Minimum wage was set by the NRA as equal for black and whites

number of blacks in the federal bureaucracy rose from 50,000 to 150,000 by 1941

50 were employed in senior positions called the black cabinet

1937 Wagner- steagall national housing act - 1/3 receive by blacks

new deal established principle of racially inclusive entitlement

Question 38

Negative if the new deal

Answer 38

Roosevelt claimed the deals were colourblind however many black workers were sacked to make way for whites

the social security act excluded many black from pensions and umemplyoent provisions manly due to their temporary or seasonal work

Many black workers were mis categorisd in order to pay them less and this led to the hatred of the NRA

required distribution from local authorities. southern white people ensured black inequality. Federal emergency relief administration was distributed unfairly

the agricultural adjustment act was detrimental to black workers 200,000 black tenant farmers were pushed of their land because of the AAA

Roosevelt unwilling to promote civil rights legislation due to needing support from southern white democrats. Roosevelt ignred calls for antilynching end of poll tax and end to segregation