The New Deal - The Alphabet Agencies Flashcards
When was the Agricultural Adjustment Act?
1933
What is the abbreviation of the Agricultural Adjustment Act?
AAA
What was the purpose of the AAA?
-used subsidies (government gives money towards it) to regulate (control/oversee) farm production
What were the issues with the AAA?
-disbanded after WW2->impact on rationing up to 1947->agriculture sidelined post 1945 as a result of globalisaton/ industrialisation
What was the impact on African Americans due to the AAA?
-less production on farms, meant fewer jobs available-> impacted mostly AA due to sharecropping
-200,000 sharecroppers were displaced and forced elsewhere for work. Forced to travel to towns for work at a time when jobs were scarce
-exposed them to more racism and discrimination
When was the Tennessee Valley Authority?
1933
What is the abbreviation of the Tennessee Valley Authority?
TVA
What was the purpose of the TVA?
-regional planning of a deprived area with, hydro-electricity production, environmental conservatism, flood control and educational and health projects
-involved the states of Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Kentucky
What were the issues with the TVA?
-still in operation though criticised for its unanticipated environmental impact
What was the impact on African Americans due to the TVA?
-racial segregation
When was the Civilian Conservation Corps?
1933
What is the abbreviation of the Civilian Conservation Corps??
CCC
What was the purpose of the CCC?
-provided work for young men aged 18-25 paying $30 a month, $25 had to be sent to their families
-they stayed in camps organised on military lines and worked on regional environmental projects such as national parks where they built trails, recreation facilities and access roads
What were the issues with the CCC?
-disbanded in 1942
What was the impact on African Americans due to the CCC?
-racial segregation
When was the Federal Housing Administration?
1934
What is the abbreviation of the Federal Housing Administration?
FHA
What was the purpose of the FHA?
-Federal guarantees of private mortgages with reduced down payments from 30%-10% and extended repayment time from 20-30 years
-enabled more Americans to purchase their own homes
Does the FHA still continue today?
yes
What was the impact on African Americans due to the FHA?
-refusal to give mortgages for black families in traditionally white neighbourhoods
When was the Works Progress Administration (WPA)?
1935
What is the abbreviation of the Works Progress Administration?
WPA
What was the purpose of the WPA?
-established work relief programmes funding a vast range of projects directed at different areas including the Federal Act Project (FAP)
-run by Harry Hopkins
How long did the WPA run for and how many people did it employ using what?
-ran for 8 years
-employed 8.5 million people using local officials to administer the projects
What was the impact on African Americans due to the WPA?
-blacks find it harder to get into new industries due to finding it harder to get higher wages that whites
-doesn’t consider colour
-1 million black Americans working for it by 1939
When was the Wagner Act?
1935
What’s another name for the Wagner Act?
-National Labour Relations Act
What was the purpose of the Wagner Act?
-originally drafted with a provision prohibiting racial discrimination
-but the American Federation of Labour successfully lobbied against it, and it was dropped
-AFL unions used their new power, granted by the Wagner Act, to exclude blacks on a large scale
Does the Wagner Act still continue today and what was it expanded into?
-continues today but was expanded in 2 other acts (Taft -Hartley Labour Act of 1947 and the Landrum-Griffin Act of 1959)
What was the impact on African Americans due to the Wagner Act?
-the Wagner Act had the effect of excluding blacks, since the dominant unions discriminated against blacks
-harmed blacks by making labour union monopolies legal
When was the Social Security Act?
1935
What is the abbreviation of the Social Security Act?
SSA
What was the purpose of the SSA?
-created guaranteed retirement payments for over 65s
-set up federal insurance for the unemployed
-provided additional assistance for the disabled
-for public health and for dependent women and children
Does the SSA still continue today?
yes
What was the impact on African Americans due to the SSA?
-indifferent to meeting the needs of black Americans, as in the exclusion of domestic workers (a major area of black female employment)
When was the Fair Labour Standards Act?
1938
What was the purpose of the Fair Labour Standards Act?
-set a minimum wage of 40 cents an hour and a maximum working week of 40 hours for businesses involved in interstate commerce and particularly for workers not in unions
-it raised the wages of 12 million workers by 1940
-the system was a model for the future
-it was opposed by Southern conservatives on the grounds of excessive government interference with business
-they also feared that Southern industry with it’s traditional low wage structure would lose its competitiveness
What were the issues with the Fair Labour Standards Act?
-it gave the benefits for a shorter working week and a minimum hourly wage by statute rather than by union negotiation
-this was the last New Deal reform to become law
When was the National Housing Act?
1938
What was the purpose of the National Housing Act?
-established the United States Housing Authority and set up housing projects for low income families
What were the issues with the National Housing Act?
-encouraged house building and home ownership but was also discriminatory against black Americans and inadvertently promoted suburban over inner-city housing
What was the impact on African Americans due to the National Housing Act?
-Blacks were technically excluded due to the disallowing of them to build their own home or have a home of their own
