New Deal

Question 1

how the democrat party prevented civil rights progressing

Answer 1

1932 - all former confederate states = democrat controlled - state governments
1932 - democrats won all the seats in the house + every senate seat that was up for re-election in former confederate states
one party system in the south
held all white primaries (which for the one party southern system was where the power lay)
seniority rules meant southern democrats tended to control committees
failed to address lynching - Dyer Bill 1922 died in the senate, took till 2005

Question 2

4 ways to test FDR civil rights impact

Answer 2

Jim crow
Eleanor Roosevelt
anti-lynching
voting swing

Question 3

FDR and jim crow

Answer 3

US armed forces remained segregated
school segregation didn’t end till 1954
allowed them to continue

Question 4

Eleanor Roosevelt on civil rights

Answer 4

much stronger than husband
quit DAR when refused integrated audience
1938 SCHW meeting Alabama, wanted to be fully integrated, police tried to enforce integration but couldn’t stop the first lady sitting next to a/a

Question 5

FDR on anti-lynching legislation

Answer 5

first president since 1870s to denounce lynching
went against 5th amendment of right to life
but FDR was unwilling to challenge southern democrats
dyer bill failed then Gavagan
overall no progress made

Question 6

voting swing

Answer 6

gained a huge swing of a/a voters from republican to democrat
1932 - 70% Hoover
1936 - 76% supported FDR
amazing considering Lincoln legacy
new deal + black cabinet

Question 7

alphabet agencies

Answer 7

AAA
TVA
CCC
NRA
PWA
WPA
NYA
FHA
FERA

Question 8

AAA

Answer 8

agriculture
40% of all a/a workers during new deal made their living through sharecropping
aimed to stop overproduction
but was dominated by white landowners and a/a rarely got the compensation they were due
1940 200,000 a/a sharecroppers evicted

Question 9

TVA

Answer 9

improved employment, electricity and farming methods
discriminatory
NAACP wrote an expose on their discriminatory practices and the situation improved somewhat

Question 10

CCC

Answer 10

created jobs for young people
10% of places for a/a
but Robert Fechner later (July 1935) ordered ‘complete segregation’

Question 11

NRA

Answer 11

nicknamed Negro Removal Act
aimed to help businesses and industry recover
a/a hugely discriminated against as NRA codes regularly overlooked a/a (to keep the southern democrats onside)
black jobs were excluded from many NRA codes

Question 12

PWA

Answer 12

aimed to create jobs through public works programmes
gave whites and blacks equal pay
$65m spent on improving black schools and hospitals
by 1940 a/a in 30% of PWA housing

Question 13

WPA

Answer 13

create jobs through public works
taught 250,000 a/a to read and write
employed 300,000 a/a per annum
but a/a only held 5% of supervisory roles in the south and 11/10344 in the south

Question 14

NYA

Answer 14

aimed to help unemployed youths

exceptionally fair in distribution of money but still accepted segregation

Question 15

FERA

Answer 15

relief and work projects from the poor
$4000 million to help the unemployed
but unemployed still viewed as idle
thought a/a needed less income than white families
eg: Mississippi relief payments 30% lower for a/a than whites

Question 16

FHA

Answer 16

aimed to help homeowners but little help for a/a

Question 17

Social Security Act

Answer 17

gave insurance for unemployed and pensions for the elderly
low payments
many black jobs were excluded, but this was comparable to other countries where black jobs were considered seasonal so wouldn’t be fair to offer insurance
‘like a sieve with holes just big enough for the majority of negroes to fall through’

Question 18

positive impact of the new deal

Answer 18

there some payments
African americans were included in many of the alphabet agencies
there was huge swing for Roosevelt so must have done something?

Question 19

negative impact of the new deal

Answer 19

was still far from equal provisions for a/a and whites
many of the alphabet agencies were discriminatory and segregated
lynching thrived
blacks still largely disenfranchised
due to need to get new deal legislation to pass, civil rights legislation was overlooked (eg: seven week anti-lynching filibuster was slowing the progress of rolling out the new deal)