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us civil rights: african americans 1865-1992 > depth study: new deal > Flashcards

depth study: new deal Flashcards

(79 cards)

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1
Q

background of new deal

A
  • outbreak of great depression in 1929
  • AA men & women faced staggering rates of unemployment/poverty
  • Franklin D. Roosevelt inaugurated as president in 1933
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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 formed 1933 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

what did the social security act epitomise

A

the negligence towards AA employment

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20
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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21
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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22
Q

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

A

public works administration (PWA)

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23
Q

what was the public works administration (PWA)

A

aimed to create jobs whilst improving nation’s infrastructure

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24
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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25
interior secretary of PWA
Harold Ickes
26
what did harold ickes do regarding AA - examples (eg. names)
- sought advice from black advisors (esp. economist robert weaver & attorney william hastie) --> counselled him on how AA can benefit from the PWA
27
one of most important PWA projects
= 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
28
what did Ickes not suggest due to segregation
integrated housing projects
29
what did the NAACP lobby Ickes to do in september 1933
issue a non-discrimination clause in the PWA - stating construction projects couldn't discriminate on basis of race
30
examples of Ickes advisors
clark foreman, william hastie & robert weaver
31
what did Ickes advisors do
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
32
what did the success of the PWA in assisting AA in such a concrete way show
- demonstrated how black advisors could make a significant difference in new deal programmes - prompted other government agencies to hire black consultants
33
nation youth administration (NYA)
- 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
34
what did mary bethune become when she accepted the role as chair of its division of negro aftairs in the NYA
first black woman to head government division
35
describe mary mcleod bethune
- 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
36
what happened due to bethunes activism
- more AA served in administrative positions in NYA (than any other new deal program) - early 1940s, 20% of black youth participated in NYA programmes
37
due to her public friendship with mary bethune, what did eleanor roosevelt do to help AA
- ally of black civil rights causes - supported federal anti-lynching bill - supported end to poll tax - increased funding for black schools
38
what did bethune use her new status for
- gather group of black consultants into federal council of negro affairs = ‘black cabinet’
39
describe the black cabinet
- 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
40
how many AA served in administrative positions by 1940
100
41
who did the black cabinet work in concert with and why
civil rights organisations to pressure new deal agencies to end racial bias
42
examples of the result of the black cabinets work alongside civil rights organisations
- 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
43
what did congress pass in 1935
works progress administration - took over some of work of PWA
44
WPA's administrator
harry hopkins
45
what did harry hopkins do in the WPA
- appointed series of black advisors to design a programme to assist AA
46
how many AA joined the WPA programmes in the first year alone
200,000
47
positives of the WPA (works progress administration)
- constructed black schools/community centres - opened domestic service training centres - conducted adult education classes - oversaw art projects
48
what happened in the south regarding AA education
- AA men/women went to literacy classes = learn to read & supplement poor education - some attended schools for first time in their life
49
how much did black illiteracy fall by at end of 1930s
10%
50
overall negatives of new deal programmes
- many failed to address black structural inequalities that lay at the root of American society
51
negatives of WPA on AA
- 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
52
negatives of PWA on AA
- housing projects required slum clearance by razing black neighbourhoods = created housing shortage for AA in segregated cities
53
how did the new deal programmes struggle to directly improve lives of rural black southerners (AAA)
- 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
54
how did the new deal assist black southerners
- allocated money to AA schools - funded public health programs - improved black housing
55
how many AA were recipients of the new deal relief programs by 1935
30%
56
how much of the overall vote did FDR capture in 1936 & how much of the black vote
60% of overall vote 76% of AA vote --> many had switched political allegiances to democratic party
57
prominent civil rights organisations during the 1930s (new deal)
NAACP & NUL - paid close attention to programs & pressured administrators to end racial bias
58
2 lawyers for NAACP
- charles hamilton houston - his student (howard university law school) = thurgood marshall
59
2 examples of cases that charles hamilton houston & thurgood marshall won
- murray v. maryland 1936 - about segregation in professional/ graduate schools - hale v. kentucky 1938 - opened jury service to AA
60
what did congress pass in 1935 regarding labour unions & explain what it said
wagner act = upheld right of workers to organise labour unions, participate in collective bargaining & stage strikes
61
what did the wagner act of 1935 create for AA
more supportive climate for AA industrial workers
62
largest black labour union
brotherhood of sleeping car porters (BSCP)
63
what did the BSCP do
negotiated contract with pullman company to reduce hours & increase wages
64
what did white labour leaders form
congress of industrial organisations (CIO)
65
what did the CIO organise
organised black/white workers in mining, automobile, meatpacking & steel industries
66
what did the CIO make central to its organisation and how
racial equality by fighting against pay scales & hiring black organisers in all of its unions
67
via the WPA, what did the federal government organise
the federal theatre project (FTP) and the federal writers project (FWP) which employed playwrights & writers
68
what did the FWP do
- interviewers travelled south & interviewed former slaves
69
what did the Farm Security administration (FSA) do
- 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
70
what did the FWP do concerning former slaves
- ex-slave narrative project - last generation of former slaves alive in 1930s - interview former slaves about trauma/allow them to narrate their experiences
71
what happened between 1936-38 in the FWP
- 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
72
limitation of new deal legislation
didn't cover agricultural/domestic service (many AA worked in) = excluded
73
how many AAs lost their jobs due to minimum wage regulations
~500,000
74
how did the agricultural adjustment act (1933) impact AAs
= cut farm production & forced up food prices - less production meant less work for thousands of poor AA sharecroppers - AAs were among 100 million consumers forced to pay higher food prices
75
impact of wagner act (1935) on AA
- excluded AA as dominant unions discriminated against them - AFL successfully lobbied against wagner act prohibiting discrimination
76
urban AA unemployment rates
high & not covered by NRLA or SSA (covered others)
77
oscar de priest
(single AA representative in congress) - elected in 1928 but lost seat in 1935 - first AA since 1900
78
why was roosevelt hesitant to help AA
concerned with white support from south & 'saving america'
79
members of NAACP early 1920s compared to 1930 - what was NAACP further slowed by
early 1920s = 90,000 1930 = 50,000 --> SC ruling (1933) trudeau v. barnes = ruled all appeals must come before supreme court

us civil rights: african americans 1865-1992 (5 decks)

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