African Americans Chapter 1 Summary

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.

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