Afam Studies

Michelle Fleming AFAM Ch 18 Questions 1. Explain why and how some of the New Deal programs, like the AAA and the Civilian Conservation Corps, were discriminatory. The New Deal marked an important shift in the American electoral landscape as significant numbers of African Americans gave their votes to Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Democratic Party for the first time, establishing a political loyalty that has endured for roughly seventy years. New Deal recovery and relief programs rapidly became a central element in blacks' endeavors to survive the harsh economic realities of the Depression.One of these programs, the Civilian Conservation Corps, provided more than a quarter of a million young black men with jobs and was consequently another arena in which the black community waged the struggle for greater equality. Although policy prohibited discrimination, blacks and other minorities encountered numerous difficulties in the CCC. In the early years of the program, some camps were integ rated. By 1935, however, there was, in the words of CCC director Fechner, a â€Å"complete segregation of colored and white enrollees,† but â€Å"segregation is not discrimination. At its peak, more than 250,000 African Americans were enrolled in nearly 150 all-black CCC company. 2. What was the effect of the Social Security Act on African Americans? How did that program reveal that whites often wanted to keep poor white women and blacks in subservient positions? The Social Security Act excluded those job categories blacks traditionally filled. â€Å"Negro Work† such as garbage collection, working in foundries, or domestic service was seen as jobs for blacks; now desperate whites used terror and intimidation of get employers to fire blacks so whites could have those jobs . How did African Americans survive the Great Depression? The depression hit African Americans hard. While many African Americans were already living in poverty, white employers felt no reservations a bout firing their black workers first and by 1932 more than half of African Americans were out of the jobs. Racial tensions grew as economic tensions mounted; lynching's in the south saw a huge resurgence. â€Å"Although there were many inequities in the New Deal housing, agricultural and economic programs, blacks had opportunities to obtain employment, some in areas previously closed to them.Black writers, for example, participated in the New Deal's writing projects, while other black Americans interviewed former slaves for the Works Project Administration (WPA)† 3. What was the NAACP role during the 1920s through the 1940s? NAACP’s anti-lynching campaign of the 1930s combined widespread publicity about the causes and costs of lynching, a successful drive to defeat Supreme Court nominee John J. Parker for his white supremacist and anti-union views and then defeat senators who voted for confirmation, and a skillful effort to lobby Congress and the Roosevelt administrat ion to pass a federal anti-lynching law.Southern senators filibustered, but they could not prevent the formation of a national consensus against lynching; by 1938 the number of lynching’s declined steeply. Through the 1930s and much of the 1940s, the NAACP initiated suits that dismantled aspects of the edifice of segregated education, each building on the precedent of the previous one. Not until the late 1940s did the NAACP believe it politically feasible to challenge directly the constitutionality of â€Å"separate but equal† education itself. . What did the â€Å"Scottsboro Boys† case illustrate about society? What role did racism play? The case of the Scottsboro Boys shows the deep seated, racist, white fear of the alleged black male rapist, in this case in the guise of youth. It showed the power of this fear to, override evidence and reason in the determination of guilt and innocence. The issue was neither guilt nor innocence; rather, it maintained white sup remacy and the repression of black freedom.Nevertheless, the concerted efforts to undo the wrongs against the Scottsboro Boys contributed significantly to the ongoing African-American struggle and the interrelated struggle to defeat Jim Crow 5. What was the role of the Communist Party during the 1920s and 1930s. Why did some blacks find communism appealing? How did the communists affect civil rights activism? During the 1930's, the Communist Party was heavily involved in the struggles of the people which arose during the Depression. Communists advocated for unemployment insurance, the right to organize, and for Social Security.The Communist Party attracted some blacks because it consistently renounced racism, worked on economic issues, and pursued legal equity and social justice for blacks. Ch 19 Questions 7. How did the Chicago Renaissance differ from the Harlem Renaissance? 8. How did African Americans create and employ popular culture to counteract negative stereotypes of black p eople? 9. How did music create a bridge between blacks and whites? 10. How did radio allow African Americans to get their music heard? 11. How did Hollywood films portray African American men and women during the 1930s and 1940s? 2. How did the images of African Americans in film and radio affect white attitudes and behavior toward blacks? 13. Why did black athletes become prominent during the 1930s and 1940s? 14. Explain what the Tuskegee Experiment was, who was responsible for the study, how did it reflect racism in America, and how did it then and now affect the attitudes of African Americans in regard to trusting the health care industry? You may need to review video clips on YouTube on this subject to gather information. Assessment