New Deal 1933-41
New Deal - 31 March 1933 – Civilians Conservation Corps (CCC) set up to provide work experience to deal with high levels of unemployment (1933 – 25% unemployed)
Programs (Created by Emergency Conservation Work Act)
o 10% of CCC places reserved for AA
o 200,000 AA worked for the CCC (but AA often restricted to low-skilled jobs).
o July 1935 – CCC camps were segregated after a directive from Fechner
o September 1935 - Black recruitment in the CCC doubled after Roosevelt intervened (before this Fechner did nothing to encourage black recruitment)
o Clarke County Georgia, AA comprised 60% of pop. but 0 AA were chosen to attend CCC camps
Only changed when FG threatened to withhold all CC funding from Georgia.
- 12 May 1933 – Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA) set up to halt falling farm prices
o Used federal subsidies and purchased reduced yields at guaranteed prices
o 75% of AA workforce worked as agricultural or domestic workers.
o Downside – Crop reduction programmes resulted in tenants/labourers being laid off:
1933-40 – 200,000 black sharecroppers were evicted from their livings.
1933-34 – 100,000 black sharecroppers evicted from their livings in one year alone.
Direct effects for AA were limited but 1932-35 farm incomes rose 58%
o Until 1936 – Federal compensation for reduced crop quotas was initially given to planters not tenant farmers and distributed via AAA county committees (which
0 AA served on throughout the south)
- June 1933 – National Recovery Administration (NRA) set up to help business and industry recover
o Set codes of fair practice including maximum hours (40 per week) and minimum wage (varied by industry and region) and also prohibited child labour.
o Downsides:
Excluded agricultural and domestic workers (3/4 of AA workers - and black workers in industries that were covered often had their job classification
redefined)
Workers received flat % increase in their wages (despite different starting salaries between races)
- June 1933 – Public Works Administration (PWA) set up by the National Industrial Recovery Act to create jobs through public works programmes
o PWA had equal pay for AA
o 1940 – AA occupied 30% of PWA-built homes
- 1933 – Federal Emergency Relief Administration set up to help the unemployed through relief and work project creation.
o By 1935 3.5 million AA (25% of all AA) had received help from FERA (FERA closed in 1935)
o Distribution undermined by local state governments (who considered poverty the result of idleness) and discriminatory practices at a local level
- 1934 – Federal Housing Administration (FHA) established to help homeowners pay the new government mortgages for those buying new homes. (FHA used
practice of Redlining.)
- April 1935 – Works Progress Administration (WPA) set up to offer employment through public works
o WPA given $45.5 billion to spend on public works
o WPA built 8,000 schools/hospitals, 250,000 AA taught to read and write by the WPA
o 300,000+ AA were employed annually by WPA (But WPA was segregated)
o Had policies making it illegal for relief officials to discriminate based on race (but WPA was segregated)
- 1935 – National Youth Administration established to help unemployed youth
o 500,000 got aid and were taught skills
New Deal - 31 March 1933 – Civilians Conservation Corps (CCC) set up to provide work experience to deal with high levels of unemployment (1933 – 25% unemployed)
Programs (Created by Emergency Conservation Work Act)
o 10% of CCC places reserved for AA
o 200,000 AA worked for the CCC (but AA often restricted to low-skilled jobs).
o July 1935 – CCC camps were segregated after a directive from Fechner
o September 1935 - Black recruitment in the CCC doubled after Roosevelt intervened (before this Fechner did nothing to encourage black recruitment)
o Clarke County Georgia, AA comprised 60% of pop. but 0 AA were chosen to attend CCC camps
Only changed when FG threatened to withhold all CC funding from Georgia.
- 12 May 1933 – Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA) set up to halt falling farm prices
o Used federal subsidies and purchased reduced yields at guaranteed prices
o 75% of AA workforce worked as agricultural or domestic workers.
o Downside – Crop reduction programmes resulted in tenants/labourers being laid off:
1933-40 – 200,000 black sharecroppers were evicted from their livings.
1933-34 – 100,000 black sharecroppers evicted from their livings in one year alone.
Direct effects for AA were limited but 1932-35 farm incomes rose 58%
o Until 1936 – Federal compensation for reduced crop quotas was initially given to planters not tenant farmers and distributed via AAA county committees (which
0 AA served on throughout the south)
- June 1933 – National Recovery Administration (NRA) set up to help business and industry recover
o Set codes of fair practice including maximum hours (40 per week) and minimum wage (varied by industry and region) and also prohibited child labour.
o Downsides:
Excluded agricultural and domestic workers (3/4 of AA workers - and black workers in industries that were covered often had their job classification
redefined)
Workers received flat % increase in their wages (despite different starting salaries between races)
- June 1933 – Public Works Administration (PWA) set up by the National Industrial Recovery Act to create jobs through public works programmes
o PWA had equal pay for AA
o 1940 – AA occupied 30% of PWA-built homes
- 1933 – Federal Emergency Relief Administration set up to help the unemployed through relief and work project creation.
o By 1935 3.5 million AA (25% of all AA) had received help from FERA (FERA closed in 1935)
o Distribution undermined by local state governments (who considered poverty the result of idleness) and discriminatory practices at a local level
- 1934 – Federal Housing Administration (FHA) established to help homeowners pay the new government mortgages for those buying new homes. (FHA used
practice of Redlining.)
- April 1935 – Works Progress Administration (WPA) set up to offer employment through public works
o WPA given $45.5 billion to spend on public works
o WPA built 8,000 schools/hospitals, 250,000 AA taught to read and write by the WPA
o 300,000+ AA were employed annually by WPA (But WPA was segregated)
o Had policies making it illegal for relief officials to discriminate based on race (but WPA was segregated)
- 1935 – National Youth Administration established to help unemployed youth
o 500,000 got aid and were taught skills
