Question

In at least 150 words, compare and contrast the experiences of white Americans during the Depression with the experience of minorities.

Answer 1

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 sufferedDuring 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 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