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Minority Groups and the Great Depression
As difficult as the economic crisis of the Great Depression was for white Americans, it was even
harder on racial minorities, including black Americans, Mexican Americans, American Indians, and
Asian Americans. In 1933 the general unemployment rate in the United States was over 25
percent; at the same time, unemployment rates for various American minorities ranged up to 50
percent or more. Given the severe racial discrimination in almost every facet of daily life in
America through the 1920s, it was hard for many minorities to distinguish much difference
between the Great Depression and "normal" economic times. Nonetheless, for these groups the
Great Depression was worse than "normal" economic hardships they had suffered.
During the Depression racial discrimination was
widespread, and minority workers were normally the
first to lose jobs at a business or on a farm. They were
often denied employment in public works programs
supposedly available to all needy citizens. They were
sometimes threatened at relief centers when applying
for work or assistance. Some charities refused to
provide food to needy minorities, particularly to blacks
in the South. Violence against minorities increased
during the Depression, as whites competed for jobs
traditionally held by minorities. Minorities were excluded from union membership, and unions
influenced Congress to keep antidiscrimination requirements out of New Deal laws. The New Deal
was a broad array of federal social and economic programs created under the leadership of
President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945; served 1933–45) to bring relief to the struggling
nation. As a result of all these factors, minorities suffered greatly during the Depression. In deep
frustration many minority citizens called Roosevelt's programs a "raw deal" instead of a "new
deal."
Some improvements did occur by the mid-1930s. For
American Indians, John Collier (1884–1968) of the U.S.
Office of Indian Affairs introduced the Indian New Deal in
June 1934, a program that dramatically changed the
course of U.S. Indian policy. Instead of forcing Indians to
blend into U.S. society, the new policy provided increased
funding for economic development of tribes, promoted
continued Indian traditions, and supported tribal
governments.
Black Americans began to see some positive changes by 1935. Through the influence of First Lady
Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962), Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes (1874–1952), and others,
the Roosevelt administration ended racial discrimination in some
federal programs, set aside larger amounts of relief aid for blacks,
and appointed several blacks to federal positions. As a result, the
vast majority of black voters voted for Roosevelt, a Democrat, in
the 1936 presidential election, ending a seventy-five-year period
of black loyalty to Republican candidates that began with
Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865; served 1861–65). Roosevelt
created an advisory group (cabinet) of black American
government employees to advise him on issues important to
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them.
Unlike American Indians and black Americans, Mexican Americans and Asian Americans saw
almost no advances. For minorities overall, the Depression was a period of great economic
suffering, small political gains, and lost social opportunities for gaining greater equality with white
Americans.
From http://ic.galegroup.com