Impact of New Deal on Ethnic Minorities

Question 1

Effect of the Depression on black Americans

Answer 1

First to lose their jobs, usual menial jobs reserved for them taken by whites

Question 2

By 1931, what percentage of BA in southern cities are unemployed?

Answer 2

33%

Question 3

Who was the biggest employer of BA in Cleveland, Ohio? What was the impact on unemployment?

Answer 3

In Cleveland, Ohio, the federal gov was the largest employer of BA, reducing their unemployment from 50% to 30%

Question 4

Proof of more opportunities in federal government?

Answer 4

• Robert Weaver, appointed as FDR’s Special Advisor on the “Economic Status of the Negro”
• Mary Bethune, advisor to FDR, was on the National Youth Administration and got her own department as Director of Negro Affairs,

Question 5

Proof of gov supporting BA?

Answer 5

Harold Ickes (Secretary of the Interior) was also the president of the Chicago branch of NAACP, directly aided BA in PWA, esp housing division

Question 6

What did the US housing authority do?

Answer 6

• Introduced racial quotas for construction projects to ensure black people got housing
• By 1940 BA occupied 1/3 of housing units provided

Question 7

WPA (Works Progress Administration)

• Work, Education, Skills

Answer 7

• Provided work for 350,000 BA every year from 1936-40
• Educational programme: taught 250,000 BA to read and write, employing over 5000 BA teachers
• National Youth Administration: skills training for 500,000 BA

Question 8

Civil Service

Answer 8

Tripled number of BA employed to 150,000 by 1941

Question 9

CIO (Congress of Industrial Organisation)

Answer 9

Trade union body, actively recruited BA members= were more empowered with TU support

Question 10

CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps)

Answer 10

• 200,000 BA got jobs but most were low-skilled, poorly paid
• Racially segregated
• Ran by white Southern Conservative man who was discriminatory (Fechner)

Question 11

AAA (Agricultural Adjustment Act)

Answer 11

• Supported white farming but no help to sharecroppers (mostly BA)
• 100,000 sharecroppers evicted due to policy of cutting production: gov destroyed products but sharecroppers did not receive subsidies
• Cotton section headed by Cobb: southern, white, Conservative, gave priority to whites

Question 12

NRA

Answer 12

• National Recovery Administration
• “negro run-around”, discriminatory to BA
• forced shutdown of many small black businesses
• codes allowed for BA to be paid less than whites for same work

Question 13

FDR’s actions

Answer 13

• Nothing to end legal segregation in Old South
• Did not pass anti-lynching bills proposed by NAACP and Bethune in both 1937 and 1940 (to not alienate Dixiecrats, needed their support)

Question 14

How many BA in professional jobs by 1940?

Answer 14

Only 1/20 in white collar jobs compared to 1/5 white men

Question 15

How many Native Americans in US?

Answer 15

330,000

Question 16

Dawes Severalty Act 1887 and its effects?

Answer 16

• Allowed federal gov to break up tribal lands
• Policies of assimilation and allotment= lost their culture, land they were given often poor quality, not suitable for farming e.g. Navajos in Arizona lived on desert

Question 17

What happened to land given to NA under Dawes Severalty Act?

Answer 17

Only 1/3 of land still owned by NA by 1934, majority sold off to speculators= their land exploited for oil, coal, gas

Question 18

Indian Reorganisation Act 1934

Answer 18

• Replaced Dawes Severalty Act, first gov attempt at preserving NA culture
• Gave NA autonomy over their own communities: self-governing bodies, can elect their own tribal council, write own constitution, have their own legal and policing system

Question 19

Role of John Collier?

Answer 19

• Commissioner of Bureau of Indian Affairs, promoted IRA and the reversal of the DSA
• Indian Arts and Crafts Board made to promote and preserve NA culture= some economic advancements for some NA groups

Question 20

What provided some unemployment relief for NA?

Answer 20

CCC and PWA

Question 21

In what ways was the Indian Reorganisation Act a failure?

Answer 21

• 75/245 Native tribes rejected it, including largest group, Navajos (opposed more gov intervention after negative impacts by previous acts e.g. Navajo Livestock Reduction Programme took away half of their livestock)
• Did very little to improve economic position, still desperately poor and excluded

Question 22

What was passed in 1944?

Answer 22

• National Congress of American Indians, set up as a forum to voice NA concerns
• however 1944= far too late

Question 23

What happened to Hispanic American employment after the Depression?

Answer 23

• Usually employed as seasonal workers to help in agriculture but many forced out of the country during the Depression to free up jobs for white Americans

Question 24

How many Hispanic Americans were repatriated during the Depression years altogether?

Answer 24

400,000

Question 25

How much did number of Mexican Americans drop?

Answer 25

• 1930: 600,000

- 1940: 400,000

Question 26

How did New Deal legislation discriminate against HA?

Answer 26

Wagner Act (1935) and National Industrial Recovery Act (1933) excluded migrant workers from being able to form trade unions- without TU support= pay and conditions worsened

Question 27

What were the cuts to migrant wages in South California?

Answer 27

Reduced from 35 cents an hour to 14 cents an hour in 1928 to 1933

Question 28

How did AAA have a negative impact on Hispanic Americans?

Answer 28

Reduces jobs for farmers: production was reduced to stabilise prices= fewer workers required, more unemployed HA

Question 29

Fair Labour Standards Act 1938?

Answer 29

Established minimum wage but excluded migrant workers