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African Americans Chapter 1 Summary

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During the time of the Great Depression, African Americans struggled the most already being the poorest people in America, but this changed with The Second World War which brought jobs and more rights to African Americans. In Chapters 10 and 11 of the book Creating Black Americans: African-American History and its meanings, 1619 to the present by Nell Irvin Painter, the author outlines the struggle for African Americans during the Great Depression, and even after during the New Deal era, then shows how they came out of it and became more successful and powerful during The Second World War. The Great Depression started with the crash of the stock market, and led to 25% of all American workers losing their jobs, most of which were African Americans. …show more content…

In chapter 11, Painter shows the struggle of African Americans to establish themselves in the war, as well as the fight for their rights as citizens and the attempt to rid the country of discrimination. When the war began, African Americans were not able to get jobs that helped create weapons or defense for the war and painter states, “In the crucial aircraft industry, for example, fewer than 300 out of 100,000 workers were black” (Painter 240). They were not offered the same opportunities to succeed until the Executive Order 8802 was passed and that attempted to desegregate war work forces. This was a huge step in the advancement of African Americans rights. After the war ended, African Americans wanted the steps they took towards their success to not disappear, Painter shows this when she says, “African American servicemen and women were determined not to go back to the humiliation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement they had experienced before the war” (Painter 248). They had worked so hard to gain more rights and they didn’t want to go back to where they started so they kept fighting for their rights. The fight for their rights though once again became one involved with bloodshed. White supremacists still did not want African Americans to gain the right to vote or have any real civil rights and because of this, killing occurred, “… Maceo Snipes, a veteran, was murdered shortly after becoming the first black person in his county registered to vote” (Painter 252). These killings were meant to prove a point to all other blacks that if they tried to exercise their rights they would be killed as well. However, the Truman Administration, became a supporter of African American rights and the Democratic party in turn began to support their civil rights. This was slowed by the Cold War, but the push

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But unfortunately the reality was that the minorities had much harder times than white 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 (“Great Depression and the New Deal Reference Library”1). Racial discrimination was high and minorities were the first to loose their jobs during the Great Depression. They were denied to work. They were often denied employment in public works programs, they were sometimes threatened at relief centers when applying for work or assistance, and even some charities refused to provide food to needy minorities, especially to blacks in the South.

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The Great Depression was the worst economic downturn in the history of the world. It began in the United States when the stock market crashed in October 1929. Everybody was sent into a panic and millions of investors were wiped out. Unemployment levels began to rise after consumer spending and investment dropped, while stock prices continued to increase. Companies started to lay off their workers, and soon nearly thirteen to fifteen million people in America were without jobs.

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The major role played by African American women in the reconstruction era is revised and illustrated in Tera W. Hunter’s To Joy my Freedom and Elsa Barkley Brown’s article Negotiating and Transforming the Public Sphere: African American Political Life in the Transition from Slavery to Freedom. Both documents analyze the participation and involvement of black women in social and political activities inside of their communities. To Joy my freedom, written by Tera W. Hunter provides an inner look into the lives and strives of African American women – mainly working class – living in Atlanta between the eighteenth and nineteenth century, in the middle of one of the most belligerent environments created in the era of Reconstruction.

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African-American historian W.E.B Dubois illustrated how the Civil War brought the problems of African-American experiences into the spotlight. As a socialist, he argued against the traditional Dunning interpretations and voiced opinions about the failures and benefits of the Civil War era, which he branded as a ‘splendid failure’. The impacts of Civil War era enabled African-Americans to “form their own fraternal organizations, worship in their own churches and embrace the notion of an activist government that promoted and safeguarded the welfare of its citizens.”

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The Great Depression occurred after the huge stock market crash in 1929. However, the impacts were on going till the 1930s. Many individuals were affected by this stock market crash which led to destroying young innocent lives. This was the time where a majority of individuals were happy that WW1 is over, but then again it went back to a horrible state due to stock markets. For instance, for those who had a credit card and spent a lot of money on the loan they borrowed came out as a horrible lifestyle when Great Depression happened.

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The Great Depression was a decade long recession that was started from the stock market crashing on October 29, 1929. It had how it was started and how it was affecting many things including countries putting high tariffs on foreign goods, debts from the first world war, and problems with unemployment, and how the government responded to these problems. Before the depression started, the United States had become Canada's largest biggest trading partner. So that meant that if the U.S. economy crashed, Canada's economy would soon feel the effects. During the depression, the U.S. imposed high tariffs on foreign goods to protect their domestic market.

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What was never presented was the point of view from the African Americans because it was seemingly dismissed. It was eye-opening to read about the experience from an African’s perspective because it brought a whole new light to my understanding of what it meant to be a slave and the struggles black Americans face here in the US, even

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Crop production dried up during this time due to lack of rain and the dust storms that would plow through their cities. Without any crops farmers struggled to try and keep their farms. The African Americans’ experienced the great depression before the stock market crashed, when it did crash, they were hit much harder

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African American history is a corrective balance to the single story of American History because it exposes one to another side of history. It erases the concept that whites built America. African American history allows you to know that there is more to America than just what you learn in American History. It is not just white america because African Americans contributed a great deal to the development of america. A student who takes american history will began to believe that whites are the only people who contributed to the development of America.

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1931 was perhaps the hardest years of depression. The unique convergence gence of personalities and institutions responsible for a luminous decade of African American creative expression centered in New York was quickly unraveling. "The Depression, Arna Bontemps, recalled, "brought instant havoc to the Harlem Renaissance of the twenties .The Depression had devastated the South Side and made a distant, painful memory of the employment boom that had fueled the Great Migration. " Last hired, first fired," black workers suffered the ravages of joblessness sooner and longer than whites.

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They yearned for “racial purity” and inflicted upon the fairness of government and politics due to their biased outlooks. Especially in the South, African American people were harshly discriminated against and society was slow to progress when compared to the North and other more diverse parts of the United States. During the Great Depression, they endured the most struggles surrounding employment and were prone to living conditions that were lesser than wealthy politicians that were commonly

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Conflicts during the 1930s through the 1970s were great, the mainstream idea would be due to World War II but what was significantly missed is the struggle that was at home. Different groups of individuals had to fight for their homes and jobs due to the unwillingness of equality of the white man. The values during this time were missing due to the ideas of a man who was out at war. Many different movements began and were impacted during this time women, African Americans, and Natives were all tremendous impacts on the war. Yet it seemed to take second place to the white man in history, even in areas that they significantly impacted on the war.

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It is clear that the ramifications of the Great Depression before the enactment of the New Deal went far beyond just economic consequences. To illustrate this racial divide that existed in parts of America, the accounts of Jerome Zerbe can be looked at. In the interview with Zerbe, he goes on to describe the “Negros” by saying: “Let’s not forget they’re only one tenth of the country, and what they’re putting on, this act- someday they’re going to be stepped on like vermin. There’s too much. I’m starting a thing: equal rights for whites” (Terkel 192).

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The Great Depression The Great Depression was by far one of the worst times of America’s history, and the world’s history. The Depression affected everyone except for the politicians and the wealthy. During the depression a lot of people lost their jobs which caused the unemployment rate to sky rocket to 14% of America’s population was unemployed, and the number would stay their till World War 2, and the depression started in the 1920’s. Middle class workers were hit the hardest in the depression. Most of the middle class citizens lost their jobs.

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From the beginning of the 1900s, African Americans have been limited from opportunities in healthcare, education, occupations, and representation. With United States entering into World War I on April 6, 1917, many African Americans were denied when they volunteered to serve in the army and military. President Woodrow Wilson’s phrase “to make the world safe for democracy” was soon realized by the African Americans to be limited. As United States became involved in the Great War, many white people believed in the “black scare” so they did not support in the African Americans being drafted, armed, and trained. Some African Americans believed that they should not be expected to participate in war related activities because they believe it was a white man battle for their rights.

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