New Deal Reform & Discrimination
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- Category: History: American
- Date Submitted: 11/24/2010 08:35 AM
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New Deal Reform & Discrimination
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Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal program attempted to aid America during the greatest economic depression the nation had ever known. It brought relief, recovery, and reform programs for Americans. But did that include all Americans? When the depression started all segments of society where hurt. It is said that those at the bottom are the worst off when this type of collapse occurs. In America's case this meant African Americans, women, and small farm owners. Would they receive a New Deal?
Many of the introduced programs were helpful in rebuilding the economy, but they did have drawbacks, including discrimination. Federal relief did provide significant aid to both whites and blacks, although whites were favored. The Civilian Conservation Corps, for example, only employed around ten percent of African-Americans. A directive was issued ordering complete segregation of blacks and whites. They held that segregation was separate from discrimination. The National Recovery Administration not only offered whites the first crack at jobs, but authorized separate and lower pay scales for blacks, and the Federal Housing Authority refused to guarantee mortgages for blacks who tried to buy in white neighborhoods.
Roosevelt didn’t address the discrimination that took place. He was aware of lynching that occurred, but his reasoning was he wanted the votes of Southern Congress members. The NRA employed both men and women, but paid women a smaller wage than that of men working the same job. To regulate wages and hours, the government established a system in which men's jobs paid more than women's. Pumping money into the economy meant government funding of enormous construction projects, largely held by men, and the relegation of women's work to less prestigious projects or domestic service. This wasn’t considered real work. Hours, benefits and working conditions were dismal. The greatest of women suffering during the Depression were these...
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Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal program attempted to aid America during the greatest economic depression the nation had ever known. It brought relief, recovery, and reform programs for Americans. But did that include all Americans? When the depression started all segments of society where hurt. It is said that those at the bottom are the worst off when this type of collapse occurs. In America's case this meant African Americans, women, and small farm owners. Would they receive a New Deal?
Many of the introduced programs were helpful in rebuilding the economy, but they did have drawbacks, including discrimination. Federal relief did provide significant aid to both whites and blacks, although whites were favored. The Civilian Conservation Corps, for example, only employed around ten percent of African-Americans. A directive was issued ordering complete segregation of blacks and whites. They held that segregation was separate from discrimination. The National Recovery Administration not only offered whites the first crack at jobs, but authorized separate and lower pay scales for blacks, and the Federal Housing Authority refused to guarantee mortgages for blacks who tried to buy in white neighborhoods.
Roosevelt didn’t address the discrimination that took place. He was aware of lynching that occurred, but his reasoning was he wanted the votes of Southern Congress members. The NRA employed both men and women, but paid women a smaller wage than that of men working the same job. To regulate wages and hours, the government established a system in which men's jobs paid more than women's. Pumping money into the economy meant government funding of enormous construction projects, largely held by men, and the relegation of women's work to less prestigious projects or domestic service. This wasn’t considered real work. Hours, benefits and working conditions were dismal. The greatest of women suffering during the Depression were these...