Impact of the New Deal & Eleanor Roosevelt

The Impact of the New Deal

The New Deal and the organisations and administrations that emerged from it showed a change in the government's perspective on welfare. They believed that they had some responsibility to help people.

Changing attitudes of government

The government's desire to help people with the New Deal extended to black people but only to a limited degree.
Black people didn’t get the same treatment as white people. They did receive some help though.
The New Deal helped to secure 50,000 public housing units, one million jobs, financial assistance, and training for black people.
Before 1933 the government had little interest in helping black communities.

Continued racism in the South

During the period 1933 to 1941, black people were still subject to heavy racism in the South and were excluded from the vote.
In 1941 only 3% of eligible black voters were registered in the South.
- Many were prevented from voting due to the literacy tests imposed on black people and the Poll Tax.
- Rosa Parks, for example, failed the literacy test the first time she took it and by the time she passed, she couldn’t vote because the Poll Tax was too high for her to afford.

The continuation of Jim Crow Laws

As most black people were excluded from the vote, the representatives elected to Congress in the South did not represent black people and their demands.
- White people in the South still very much approved of the Jim Crow Laws and did not see a reason to change them.
- President Roosevelt did little to support desegregation because he still did not want to alienate Southern voters.

The murder of Claude Neal

In 1934 the brutal murder of Claude Neal was reported nationwide. Despite this, congress still blocked a bill to end lynching.
- Neal was tortured for 2 hours by having his penis, toes and fingers cut off.
- He was then forced to eat his own severed penis and repeatedly stabbed in the stomach before being lynched.
This horrific crime still did little to change the mind of white people that an anti-lynching bill should be passed.
In 1938, further attempts to pass an anti-lynching bill were blocked by more Congressmen than before.

Roosevelt's Re-election

Roosevelt was a popular President. He was in office from 1933 until 1945.

Roosevelt's re-election

Throughout the New Deal era, many black people decided that Federal Government passing laws which would promote their freedom was the only way in which they would ever gain equality.
The assistance that the New Deal had offered black people meant that by 1936 many of them voted for Roosevelt, who was a Democrat, to be re-elected.
- Many black people turned away from voting for the Republican party as they had done traditionally.

Roosevelt and the electorate

In 1932 Roosevelt won 4 out of 15 black wards in 9 major cities.
By 1940, Roosevelt had won all of the 15 wards.
Roosevelt knew that the black vote was an important one and in his 1936 campaign he told an all-black audience that he would promise ‘no forgotten men and no forgotten races’.
Roosevelt increased the number of black employees in the federal bureaucracy from 50,000 in 1932 to 150,000 in 1941 which gained him further support amongst the black electorate.

Eleanor Roosevelt

As First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt used her influence to further the Civil Rights cause.

Support for Civil Rights

Eleanor Roosevelt understood that if her husband championed black people it would lose him valuable support with the white Southern voters.
So, she championed rights for black people in whatever ways she could as First Lady of the United States.

Public support for black people

Eleanor Roosevelt supported black people in a number of ways:
- She attended functions organised by black people and made sure that the prominent Civil Rights leaders met with the President.
- She made her feeling against segregation publicly known and would often sit next to black people or be photographed with them.
- She invited singer Marian Anderson, who was black, to sing at the White House.
- She publically showed that she was anti-poll tax by promoting the National Committee to Abolish the Poll Tax.
- She also championed the black heroes of WW2.

Criticism of Eleanor Roosevelt

Eleanor’s support of Civil Rights didn’t go unnoticed amongst the Southern whites who publicly shamed her for her closeness to black people.
Some Southerners suggested that she even had ‘black blood’ in her.
- Eleanor Roosevelt never publicly stated that she didn’t have 'black blood' in her.
- Her ambiguous answers surrounding this question showed that she did not even think it worthy of an answer.

1‘Free at Last’ 1865-77

1.1The Thirteenth Amendment

1.1.1The Civil War & The Thirteenth Amendment

1.1.2The Impact of the Civil War

1.1.3Economic, Political & Social Position of Ex-Slaves

1.1.4Political Settlement & Andrew Johnson

1.2Radical Reconstruction, 1867-77

1.2.1The Fourteenth Amendment

1.2.2The Fifteenth Amendment & The Civil Rights Act

1.3The Backlash

1.3.1White Supremacy Groups

1.3.2The End of Reconstruction 1887

2The Triumph of ‘Jim Crow’ 1883-c1890

2.1Jim Crow Laws & Civil Rights Cases

2.1.1Jim Crow Laws

2.1.2Voting Rights

2.1.3Scientific Racism

2.1.4Civil Rights Cases

2.2Resistance and Migration

2.2.1The Northern States & Black Resistance

2.2.2Early Migration

2.2.3The Great Migration

2.2.4Race Riots

2.2.5Migration Case Study: Harlem

3The New Deal and Race Relations, 1933–41

3.1Failure to Address Black Grievances

3.1.1The Democrat Party & the Anti-Lynching Bill

3.2The New Deal

3.2.1The New Deal

3.2.2The Alphabet Agencies

3.2.3The PWA, WPA & the NYA

3.2.4Benefits

3.2.5Impact of the New Deal & Eleanor Roosevelt

3.2.6Gone With the Wind

3.3The Second World War

3.3.1The Experience of War

3.3.2The Home Front

3.3.3The White Flight

3.3.4Restrictive Covenants

4‘I have a dream’, 1954–68

4.1Civil Rights Activities, 1954–63

4.1.1The Desegregation of Schools

4.1.2The Montgomery Bus Boycott

4.1.3SCLC & Birmingham

4.1.4SNCC

4.1.5CORE

4.2Civil Rights 1964-68

4.2.1Civil Rights Act 1964 & Voting Act 1965

4.2.2Ghettos & Poverty

4.2.31966 - 1968

4.3Malcolm X & The Black Panthers

4.3.1The Nation of Islam & Malcolm X

4.3.2Divisions in the Civil Rights Movement

4.3.3The Black Panthers

4.4Literature, Film & Television

4.4.1Racial Attitudes in Literature from 1850-2009

4.4.2Racial Attitudes in Film from 1850-2009

4.4.3Racial Attitudes in Television from 1850-2009

5Obama's Campaign for the Presidency, 2004–09

5.1The Late 20th Century

5.1.1Migration Back to the South in the 20th Century

5.1.2The Status of Black People 1968-2009

5.2Barack Obama & his Political Career

5.2.1Barack Obama's Life

5.2.2Senator for Illinois

5.2.3Running as Presidential Candidate

5.3Reasons for Obama's Victory

5.3.1Reasons for Vicotry

5.3.2The Significance of Obama's Victory

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