Sharecroppers and farm workers always lived in the midst of strife; they were never able to make a decent living. The boll weevil, soil erosion, and foreign competition had destroyed the cotton crop in the early Twenties. Life was difficult. No profits were being made, and although many southern blacks believed that life in the north was better, it was not much different. Black Americans working in the northern industries were living in poverty even before the stock market crash because they had been laid off; they were often replaced with white workers. When the Depression occurred, "more black workers than white lost their jobs. In 1931, about one out of every three Blacks was jobless, and one out of four whites" (Meltzer 210).

People, especially blacks, were being put out of work everywhere; the wave of depression had hit the entire country. Banks were failing, and the cities, in a desperate attempt to provide relief, were running out of money. Because President Hoover was confident that business conditions would soon improve, federal funds were not used to provide relief; relief was the responsibility of private charities. City allowances soon ran out, and there was no money left. Pennies were used to buy food and fuel. Many people went without food in order to purchase shoes and medicine; the death rate from starvation rose rapidly. The number of evictions increased when no money was available to pay the rent. Americans roamed the streets searching for shelter in municipal lodging houses or Hoovervilles; some lived in railroad boxcars or constructed tents in vacant lots.

When Franklin Roosevelt came to office in 1933, he emphasized relief, recovery, and reform through a program called the New Deal, but he had no plan to combat racial bias in the allotment of federal funds. Many Black Americans were unsure how much government help they would receive through this new program; the amount of relief that blacks received depended heavily upon the bias of the individual who headed each program. The Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA) was designed to raise agricultural prices by paying farmers to cut production. Landowners were given this money and expected to distribute it among their tenants and sharecroppers; however, landowners rarely gave this money to their black workers. These black workers did not accuse their landowners of witholding money because they feared losing their jobs. Black Americans were also hurt through the National Recovery dministration (NRA). The NRA was formed to establish minimum wages for all workers, but these wages tended to hurt blacks, especially in the South with the enforcement of Black Codes. Because wages were equal for blacks and whites, many owners fired blacks to replace them with white workers. The higher wages enforced by the NRA caused prices to rise, but blacks often did not receive higher wages and could not afford the increased cost of living. Blacks criticized the NRA commenting that it "stood for 'Negroes Ruined Again' or 'Negro Rights Assassinated'" (Levine 155).

Other programs, however, provided blacks with aid and helped them to ameliorate their current situations. The Public Works Administration (PWA) created jobs for blacks though construction programs and neighborhood clean-up; it was controlled by Harold Ickes, who, as a white man, had aided the NAACP in the 1920's. Ickes encouraged the PWA committees to include Black Americans and end discrimination. The PWA helped to build houses, schools, and hospitals in the black communities. The Works Progress Administration gave work to blacks who were interested in construction or the arts; in some cities, the number of jobs held by blacks exceeded the black population of that area. The National Youth Administration (NYA) gave jobs and skills training to youth who were in and out of school. Mary McLeod Bethune was appointed the head of Negro activities; she made sure that blacks had a place on every Southern state's NYA advisory board. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) provided work for two-hundred thousand black males, and the Farm Security Administration (FSA) gave relief to many black farmers. Because of the loans provided, southern sharecroppers were able to purchase small plots of land. Black Americans received government assistance for the first time since Reconstruction.

Although many programs, created by President Roosevelt gave great aid to blacks, he did not support programs that sought to end racial discrimination. He claimed that southern Democrats controlled much of Congress, and he did not want to make them angry. Black leaders were upset by FDR's refusal to enforce antilynching laws and his refusal to abolish the poll tax. In addition, no agricultural or domestic black workers were provided with social security pensions. Yet, Eleanor Roosevelt and Harold Ickes, the president's wife and Interior Secretary, continued to push for equality. Mrs. Roosevelt publically endorsed the NAACP; she visted PWA housing projects, black schools, and churches and invited blacks to attend receptions at the White House. When the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) would not permit black opera singer Marian Anderson to sing at Constitution Hall, Mrs. Roosevelt resigned from the organization in protest; she invited Marian Anderson to sing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

The New Deal improved the lives of many Black Americans, but it did not endorse a civil rights policy. The main strategy of the NAACP was to fight in the courtroom; however, there were many young blacks who did not believe the battle in the courtroom would secure their civil rights. They focused more on economic issues rather than legal ones. A. Phillip Randolph, a black activist who was angered by racial discrimination in defense plant jobs, organized a march on Washington with ten-thousand members of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. President Roosevelt did not want this march to happen, and as a result, he issued Executive Order 8802 which prohibited discrimination in federal jobs. FDR also began the Fair Employment Practices Commission (FPEC) to ensure that his order was carried out.

The Great Depression was the beginning of a new movement in the lives of Black Americans. The seeds of equality were sprouting, and Black Americans were hoping for a day when they would receive full civil rights without discrimination. The bud of the civil rights movement was forming.

Levine, Michael L. African Americans and Civil Rights: From 1619 to the Present. Arizona: Oryx Press, 1996.
Meltzer, Milton. The Black Americans: A History in Their Own Words 1619-1983. New York: Crowell, 1984.