depth study: new deal Flashcards

1
Q

background

A
  • outbreak of great depression in 1929 = widespread suffering/despair in black communities
  • AA men & women faced staggering rates of unemployment/poverty
  • Franklin D. Roosevelt (democrat) inaugurated as president in 1933
  • ^^he launched ‘new deal’ (ambitious government programs to save USA from economic crisis)
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2
Q

what did the majority of AA work as in the late 1920s and what were the problems with these jobs

A
  • domestic servants, farmers or service workers
  • low wages, weak job security & dangerous conditions
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3
Q

how many black southeners migrated to northern/midwest cities between 1915-30

A

1.5 million

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4
Q

how many AA lived in the south (approx.)

A

11 million

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5
Q

what did the AA living in the south do for labour/jobs

A

sharecroppers, tenant farmers & wage workers

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6
Q

how any black southerners owned land (approx.)

A

10%

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7
Q

what was sharecropping

A
  • white landowners allowed former AA slaves to use their land in return for a large share of the produce
  • led to state of debt peonage (unofficial slavery)
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8
Q

what did AA face in places other than the deep south

A

the philosophy of the Jim Crow laws - racial segregation, interracial police violence & labour separation

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9
Q

the price of cotton dropped from 18 cents to 6 cents between when? - what did this cause

A

1929-33
- caused number of black sharecroppers to fall

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10
Q

how many AA were out of work in Chicago, NY and Pittsburgh (during great depression)

A

50%

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11
Q

how many black workers were jobless in Philadelphia and Detroit (during great depression)

A

60%

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12
Q

how many sweeping programs did FDR create in his first 100 days

A

5

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13
Q

name the 5 sweeping programmes

A
  1. agricultural adjustment administration (AAA)
  2. civilian conservation corps (CCC)
  3. federal emergency relief administration (FERA)
  4. national industrial recovery act (NIRA)
  5. tenessee valley authority (TVA)
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14
Q

define the agricultural adjustment act (AAA) and negative impacts on AA

A

(1933) = aimed to help farmers by cutting farm production & forcing up food prices
- aimed at the south where easy to deny AA benefits
- evicted black sharecroppers/tenant farmers from land they were cultivating
- less production meant less work for thousands of poor sharecroppers
- AA among 100 million consumers forced to pay higher prices

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15
Q

define the civilian conservation corps (CCC) and negative impacts on AA

A

= work relief program that gave millions of young men employment on environmental projects during the great depression
- admitted fewer black men
- housed them in segregated dormitories
- barred black CCC workers from most administrative positions

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16
Q

define the tenessee valley authority (TVA) and negative impacts on AA

A

= provided jobs/tenessee to rural south (tenessee river valley - spans 7 states in south)
- strict practices of racial segregation limited black participation

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17
Q

define the federal emergency relief administration (FERA)

A

= distributed federal aid to states for relief

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18
Q

define the national industrial recovery act (NIRA) and negative impacts on AA

A

= supervised fair trade codes & guaranteed laborers a right to collective bargaining
- cotton industry hours regulation excluded central positions where black male workers laboured
- southern lumber industries wages were far lower than those paid in north
- even when AA workers were eligible for higher wages, this money was paid to white workers

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19
Q
A
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20
Q

what did the social security act epitomise

A

the negligence towards AA employment

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21
Q

what was the social security act (1935)

A

created social security - federal safety net for elderly, unemployed and disadvantaged americans

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22
Q

who were ineligible from the social security act (1935) and what did this mean

A

farmers and domestics
- 87% of (all) black women were ineligible
- so were 55& of all AA workers

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23
Q

what was the one new deal agency that took decisive action against racial discrimination

A

public works administration (PWA)

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24
Q

what was the public works administration (PWA)

A

aimed to create jobs whilst improving nation’s infrastructure

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25
Q

how much did the PWA spend on thousands of construction projects across the USA in the 1930s - give examples

A

$6 billion
- schools
- hospitals
- public housing

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26
Q

interior secretary of PWA

A

Harold Ickes

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27
Q

what did Ickes do regarding AA - examples (eg. names)

A
  • sought advice from black advisors (esp. economist robert weaver & attorney william hastie) –> counselled him on how AA can benefit from the PWA
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28
Q

one of most important PWA projects

A

= construction of 51 housing projects - 1/3 (19) for AA –> 1st time US gov provided housing for low income citizens
- in cities with large AA populations (eg. NY & philadelphia) families moved into new, affordable housing = life-changing

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29
Q

what did Ickes not suggest due to segregation

A

integrated housing projects

30
Q

what did the NAACP lobby Ickes to do in september 1933

A

issue a non-discrimination clause in the PWA - stating construction projects couldn’t discriminate on basis of race

31
Q

examples of Ickes advisors

A

clark foreman, william hastie & robert weaver

32
Q

what did Ickes advisors do

A

supplemented the non-discrimination clause with a quota system
–> this stated all construction crews must employ number of black workers proportional to population
- also recruited black architects to design some of public housing complexes

33
Q

what did the success of the PWA in assisting AA in such a concrete way show

A
  • demonstrated how black advisors could make a significant difference in new deal programmes
  • prompted other government agencies to hire black consultants
34
Q

nation youth administration (NYA)

A
  • agency focused on finding work opportunites for young people
  • appointed clubwoman/school president ‘mary mcleod bethune’ as negro advisor & later chair of it’s devision of negro affairs
35
Q

what did mary bethune become when she accepted the role as chair of its division of negro aftairs in the NYA

A

first black woman to head government division

36
Q

describe mary mcleod bethune

A
  • activist (esp. black womens politics)
  • 1935 = founded civil rights organisation ‘national council of negro women (NCNW)’
  • lobbied for AA to serve in leadership positions at federal/state/local levels
  • public friendship with 1st lady eleanor roosevelt & educated her on problems facing AA
37
Q

what happened due to bethunes activism

A
  • more AA served in administrative positions in NYA (than any other new deal program)
  • early 1940s, 20% of black youth participated in NYA programmes
38
Q

due to her public friendship with mary bethune, what did eleanor roosevelt do to help AA

A
  • ally of black civil rights causes
  • supported federal anti-lynching bill
  • supported end to poll tax
  • increased funding for black schools
39
Q

what did bethune use her new status for

A
  • gather group of black consultants into federal council of negro affairs = ‘black cabinet’
40
Q

describe the black cabinet

A
  • composed of lawyers, politicians & journalists
  • advised president roosevelt on matters related to AA
  • some members included: robert weaver (economist) & charles hastie (lawyer)
  • black press covered black cabinet
  • not formal government
41
Q

how many AA served in administrative positions by 1940

A

100

42
Q

who did the black cabinet work in concert with and why

A

civil rights organisations to pressure new deal agencies to end racial bias

43
Q

examples of the result of the black cabinets work alongside civil rights organisations

A
  • by 1933, the CCC had employed a small number of young black men but by 1940, 200,000 AA men participated in programme
    ^^ 1/5 learned to read while enrolled
44
Q

what did congress pass in 1935

A

works progress administration - took over some of work of PWA

45
Q

WPA’s administrator

A

harry hopkins

46
Q

what did harry hopkins do in the WPA

A
  • appointed series of black advisors to design a programme to assist AA
47
Q

how many AA joined the WPA programmes in the first year alone

A

200,000

48
Q

positives of the WPA

A
  • constructed black schools/community centres
  • opened domestic service training centres
  • conducted adult education classes
  • oversaw art projects
49
Q

what happened in the south regarding AA education

A
  • AA men/women went to literacy classes = learn to read & supplement poor education
  • some attended schools for first time in their life
50
Q

how much did black illiteracy fall by at end of 1930s

A

10%

51
Q

overall negatives of new deal programmes

A
  • many failed to address black structural inequalities that lay at the root of American society
52
Q

negatives of WPA on AA

A
  • limited AA women’s employment opportunities to domestic service training programs & sewing programs = paid low wages
    ^^ enabled white women more opportunities eg. clerical work, gardening & nursing
53
Q

negatives of PWA on AA

A
  • housing projects required slum clearance by razing black neighbourhoods = created housing shortage for AA in segregated cities
54
Q

how did the new deal programmes struggle to directly improve lives of rural black southerners (AAA)

A
  • AAA increase crop prices by paying farmers to decrease acreage but it didn’t have programs to assist black sharecroppers who didn’t receive payments as not landowners
  • powerful white men serving on the AAA’s committees crafted policies that favoured white farmers & sometimes forced black landowners off land/sharecroppers out of jobs
55
Q

how did the new deal assist black southerners

A
  • allocated money to AA schools
  • funded public health programs
  • improved black housing
56
Q

how many AA were recipients of the new deal relief programs by 1935

A

30%

57
Q

how much of the overall vote did FDR capture in 1936 & how much of the black vote

A

60% of overall vote
76% of AA vote –> many had switched political allegiances to democratic party

58
Q

prominent civil rights organisations during the 1930s (new deal)

A

NAACP & NUL - paid close attention to programs & pressured administrators to end racial bias

59
Q

2 lawyers for NAACP

A
  • charles hamilton houston
  • his student (howard university law school) = thurgood marshall
60
Q

2 examples of cases that charles hamilton houston & thurgood marshall won

A
  • murray v. maryland 1936 - about segregation in professional/ graduate schools
  • hale v. kentucky 1938 - opened jury service to AA
61
Q

what did congress pass in 1935 regarding labour unions & explain what it said

A

wagner act = upheld right of workers to organise labour unions, participate in collective bargaining & stage strikes

62
Q

what did the wagner act of 1935 create for AA

A

more supportive climate for AA industrial workers

63
Q

largest black labour union

A

brotherhood of sleeping car porters (BSCP)

64
Q

what did the BSCP do

A

negotiated contract with pullman company to reduce hours & increase wages

65
Q

what did white labour leaders form

A

congress of industrial organisations (CIO)

66
Q

what did the CIO organise

A

organised black/white workers in mining, automobile, meatpacking & steel industries

67
Q

what did the CIO make central to its organisation and how

A

racial equality by fighting against pay scales & hiring black organisers in all of its unions

68
Q

via the WPA, what did the federal government organise

A

the federal theatre project (FTP) and the federal writers project (FWP) which employed playwrights & writers

69
Q

what did the FWP do

A
  • interviewers travelled south & interviewed former slaves
70
Q

what did the Farm Security administration (FSA) do

A
  • hired photographers to travel across country & document lives of ordinary Americans
  • recruited black photographers
  • white photographers captured searing/indelible images of AA –> allowed them to defy some racial stereotypes perpetuated against them in American culture
71
Q

what did the FWP do concerning former slaves

A
  • ex-slave narrative project
  • last generation of former slaves alive in 1930s
  • interview former slaves about trauma/allow them to narrate their experiences
72
Q

what happened between 1936-38 in the FWP

A
  • dozens of black/white interviewers travelled to south & interviewed 2000+ former slaves
  • at the end, they’d amassed 10,000 types pages/thousands of hours of testimonies
  • invaluable at highlighting hidden world of slaving eg. sexual violence, brutality & survival strategies