African Americans In The 1930's

The daily lives in the early part of the twentieth century contained countless changes. Social reform and significant technological advancements had major effects on daily life, including the invention of the radio, talkies and the passage of the nineteenth amendment. Although social and technological changes played major roles in the development of the overall growing society, there were many other areas of change. Specifically, voting records among minorities changed throughout this era, especially among blacks and women. This great change in the political realm still affects elections today, among other things from the era of the early twentieth century. In the past few election cycles, minority voters have played an important role in the

While men were able to leave their families in hopes to find work, just abandon their home and family, women were not so fortunate to get away. While women continued to support the family, often times they had to rely on the assistance of the programs made available through the new deal. Through this struggle, the help received by way of government assistance programs may have altered women’s votes, which gave way to increased support of the Democratic Party in the 1936

In the twenties black’s faced discrimination and segregation from whites and, primarily in the south, were still disenfranchised under continued Republican rule. It is in this decade that Ku-Klux-Klan membership soared, “during the 1920s estimates for national membership in the KKK ran from 3 million to as high as 8 million. The klan devised a plan called the ‘decade’ in which every member of the klan was responsible for recruiting 10 people to vote for klan candidates in elections” (Haddock, “The Not So”). While having complete control of the legislatures throughout the twenties, the Republicans did not accomplish or push for any major legislation that would benefit the situation blacks were placed in. This discrimination followed in the Depression era, where black workers were discriminated against more often than not, finding themselves unable to find work. “In 1932 approximately 25 percent of all white workers in the urban North reported themselves unable to find work. For black workers the figures ran significantly higher throughout the decade. In Pittsburgh and Chicago, half reported they had no work. In Philidelphia and Detroit, black unemployment approached 60 percent” (Greensberg 27). These sorts of hardships likely contributed to the major voting changes in the election of 1936 and