African Americans in the 1930

1
African Americans in the 1930s and 1940s

• The Forgotten Years
• Of
• The Civil Rights Movement

2
The Great Depression

• Hits African Americans particularly hard
• In Pittsburgh, Black unemployment is 48 compared
  to 31 for whites
• Black sharecroppers face even worse conditions

3
Continued Oppression

• Lynchings increase from 7 in 1929 to 24 in 1933
• Scottsboro Boys, 1931
• Jim Crow laws continue to limit opportunities

4
New Deal Programs

• New Deal programs provide assistance to African
  Americans such as the CCC
• Most benefits still provided under Jim Crow
  traditions and laws

5
The Black Cabinet

• FDR appoints several African Americans to
  political positions
• Mary McCleod Bethune, head of Negro Affairs for
  NYA
• Robert Weaver, will be first Cabinet appointee in
  1960s

6
Eleanor Roosevelt and Marian Anderson

• The Presidents wife, an advocate for racial
  justice, resigns from DAR when it discriminates
  against Marian Anderson
• Marian Andersons Easter concert at Lincoln
  Memorial in 1939 becomes a significant symbol
  for tolerance
• First song is America

7
African Americans Move to the Democratic Party

• Because of New Deal Programs, the Black cabinet,
  and actions like Eleanor Roosevelt
• Mostly African Americans in northern cities
• Democrats in South remain racist and linked to
  Jim Crow
• African Americans challenge white only
  primaries in 30s and 40s

8
A. Philip Randolph

• One of most important African American leaders of
  20th century
• Focus on economic rights as central to civil
  rights
• Head of Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters
  10,000 members
• Editor of The Messenger

9
Entertainment

• Entertainers make breakthroughs, challenge
  traditions
• Hattie McDaniel wins best supporting actress
  Oscar for Gone with the Wind
• Paul Robeson, lawyer, actor, singer, athlete and
  radical civil rights activist,

10
Billie Holidays Strange Fruit

• 1939 recording, protest against lynching
• Became a best selling song
• Southerners tried to ban the song from the radio

11
Sports

• Joe Louis, Heavyweight Champion, two fights with
  Max Schmelling, victory in 1938 has international
  significance
• Jackie Robinson, Integrates Brooklyn Dodgers in
  1947

12
The Arts

• Jacob Lawrence
• Harlem resident, studied at Harlem Community Art
  Center (funded by New Deal program)
• Painted in modernist style
• Particularly noted for series on Black History
  (Migration Series, Toussaint LOverture, and
  Harriet Tubman)

13
Legal Challenges to Segregation

• NAACP chips away at Jim Crow. led by lawyer
  Charles Houston
• Gaines v Missouri, 1938-Must have separate law
  school
• Shelley v Kramer, 1948, ends restrictive
  covenants in housing
• Sweatt v Painter, 1950, Separate Graduate Schools
  are unequal

14
Double V/March on Washington

• Demand victory at home and abroad
• A Philip Randolph threatens a march on Washington
  
• FDR creates FEPC IN 1941
• Various groups like CORE start sit-ins

15
German Propaganda, 1944

• Uses images of KKK and Blacks in a Cage

16
African Americans in the Military

• Still face discrimination, segregated units
• Benjamin Davis is first black general
• Tuskegee Airmen
• 761st Tank Battalion (Black Panthers)
• Red Ball Express, support troops at Battle of
  Bulge

17
Myrdals American Dilemma

• Gunnar Myrdal was a Swedish economist, publishes
  book in 1944
• Clearly presents that segregation is a
  contradiction of American ideals
• Highly influential with white intellectuals

18
Integration of the Military

• Civil Rights Commission in 1947 publishes To
  Secure These Rights
• Convinces President Harry Truman to integrate the
  military in 1948 (an election year risk)