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One American's Story

Pedro J. González came to this country from Mexico in the early 1920s and

later became a United States citizen. As the ﬁrst Spanish-language

disc jockey in Los Angeles, González used his radio program to con-

demn discrimination against Mexicans and Mexican Americans,

who were often made scapegoats for social and economic problems

during the Depression. For his efforts, González was arrested, jailed, and

deported on trumped-up charges. Later in life, he reﬂected on his experiences.

A PERSONAL

VOICE PEDRO J. GONZÁLEZ

“ Seeing how badly they treated Mexicans back in the days of my youth

I could have started a rebellion. But now there could be a cultural under-

standing so that without ﬁring one bullet, we might understand each

other. We [Mexicans] were here before they [Anglos] were, and we

are not, as they still say, ‘undesirables’ or ‘wetbacks.’ They say we come

to this land and it’s not our home. Actually, it’s the other way around.

”

—quoted in the Los Angeles Times, December 9, 1984

Pedro J. González became a hero to many Mexican

Americans and a symbol of Mexican cultural pride. His life

reﬂected some of the difﬁculties faced by Mexicans and other

minority groups in the United States during the New Deal era.

The New Deal Brings New Opportunities

In some ways, the New Deal represented an important opportunity for minorities

and women, but what these groups gained was limited. Long-standing patterns of

prejudice and discrimination continued to plague them and to prevent their full

and equal participation in national life.

WOMEN MAKE THEIR MARK

One of the most notable changes during the

New Deal was the naming of several women to important government positions.

Frances Perkins became America’s ﬁrst female cabinet member. As secretary of

labor, she played a major role in creating the Social Security system and super-

Terms & Names

MAIN IDEA

New Deal policies and

actions affected various

social and ethnic groups.

The New Deal made a lasting

impact on increasing the

government’s role in the

struggle for equal rights.

WHY IT MATTERS NOW

The New Deal Affects

Many Groups

A SONG FOR

HIS PEOPLE

710 C

HAPTER 23

Pedro J. Gonzáles

and the Fight for

Mexican-American

Rights

•Frances Perkins

•Mary McLeod

Bethune

•John Collier

•New Deal coalition

•Congress of

Industrial

Organizations

(CIO)

p0710-715aspe-0623s3 10/17/02 9:06 AM Page 710

Page 1 of 6

vised labor legislation. President Roosevelt, encouraged by his

wife Eleanor and seeking the support of women voters, also

appointed two female diplomats and a female federal judge.

However, women continued to face discrimination in the

workplace from male workers who believed that working

women took jobs away from men. A Gallup poll taken in

1936 reported that 82 percent of Americans said that a wife

should not work if her husband had a job.

Additionally, New Deal laws yielded mixed results. The

National Recovery Administration, for example, set wage

codes, some of which set lower minimum wages for women.

The Federal Emergency Relief Administration and the Civil

Works Administration hired far fewer women than men, and

the Civilian Conservation Corps hired only men.

In spite of these barriers, women continued their move-

ment into the workplace. Although the overall percentage of

women working for wages increased only slightly during the

1930s, the percentage of married women in the workplace

grew from 11.7 percent in 1930 to 15.6 percent in 1940. In

short, widespread criticism of working women did not halt

the long-term trend of women working outside the home.

African-American Activism

The 1930s witnessed a growth of activism by African

Americans. One notable ﬁgure was A. Philip Randolph, who

organized the country’s first all-black trade union, the

Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. His work and that of

others laid the groundwork for what would become the civil

rights movement.

AFRICAN AMERICANS TAKE LEADERSHIP ROLES

During

the New Deal, Roosevelt appointed more than 100 African Americans to key positions

in the government. Mary McLeod Bethune—an educator who dedicated herself to

promoting opportunities for young African Americans—was one such appointee.

Hired by the president to head the Division of Negro Affairs of the National Youth

Administration, Bethune worked to ensure that the NYA hired African-American

administrators and provided job training and other beneﬁts to minority students.

Bethune also helped organize a

“Black Cabinet” of influential

African Americans to advise the

Roosevelt administration on racial

issues. Among these ﬁgures were

William H. Hastie and Robert C.

Weaver, both appointees to

Roosevelt’s Department of Interior.

Never before had so many African

Americans had a voice in the

White House.

Eleanor Roosevelt played a

key role in opening doors for

African Americans in government.

She was also instrumental in

bringing about one of the most

dramatic cultural events of the

Mary McLeod

Bethune, a close

friend of Eleanor

Roosevelt, was a

strong supporter

of the New Deal.

711

▼

MAIN IDEA

Synthesizing

Why was the

“Black Cabinet”

important to the

Roosevelt

administration?

A. Answer It

gave President

Roosevelt valu-

able advice on

racial issues

and provided

African

Americans with

a voice, for the

ﬁrst time, at the

highest levels of

government.

FRANCES PERKINS

1882–1965

As a student at Mount Holyoke

College, Frances Perkins attended

lectures that introduced her to

social reform efforts. Her initial

work in the settlement house

movement sparked her interest in

pursuing the emerging social ser-

vice organizations. After witness-

ing the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory

ﬁre in 1911 (see Chapter 14,

page 455), Perkins pledged to

ﬁght for labor reforms, especially

those for women. A pioneer for

labor and women's issues, she

changed her name from Fannie to

Frances, believing she would be

taken more seriously in her work.

p0710-715aspe-0623s3 10/17/02 9:06 AM Page 711

Page 2 of 6

period: a performance by the African-American

singer Marian Anderson in 1939. When the

Daughters of the American Revolution chose not

to allow Anderson to perform in their concert

hall in Washington, D.C., because of her race,

Eleanor Roosevelt resigned from the organiza-

tion. She then arranged for Anderson to perform

at the Lincoln Memorial on Easter Sunday. At the

concert, Walter White, an ofﬁcial of the NAACP,

noticed one girl in the crowd.

A PERSONAL VOICE WALTER WHITE

“ Her hands were particularly noticeable as she

thrust them forward and upward, trying desper-

ately . . . to touch the singer. They were hands

which despite their youth had known only the

dreary work of manual labor. Tears streamed

down the girl’s dark face. Her hat was askew,

but in her eyes ﬂamed hope bordering on

ecstasy. . . . If Marian Anderson could do it,

the girl’s eyes seemed to say, then I can, too.

”

—A Man Called White

THE PRESIDENT FAILS TO SUPPORT CIVIL RIGHTS

Despite efforts to pro-

mote racial equality, Roosevelt was never committed to full civil rights for African

Americans. He was afraid of upsetting white Democratic voters in the South, an

important segment of his supporters. He refused to approve a federal antilynch-

ing law and an end to the poll tax, two key goals of the civil rights movement.

Further, a number of New Deal agencies clearly discriminated against African

Americans, including the NRA, the CCC, and the TVA. These programs gave lower

wages to African Americans and favored whites.

African Americans recognized the need to ﬁght for their rights and to improve

conditions in areas that the New Deal ignored. In 1934, they helped organize the

Southern Tenant Farmers Union, which sought to protect the

rights of tenant farmers and sharecroppers, both white and

black. In the North, the union created tenants’ groups and

launched campaigns to increase job opportunities.

In general, however, African Americans supported the

Roosevelt administration and the New Deal, generally seeing

them as their best hope for the future. As one man recalled,

“Roosevelt touched the temper of the black community. You

did not look upon him as being white, black, blue or green.

He was President Roosevelt.”

Mexican-American Fortunes

Mexican Americans also tended to support the New Deal,

even though they received even fewer beneﬁts than African

Americans did. Large numbers of Mexican Americans had

come to the United States during the 1920s, settling mainly

in the Southwest. Most found work laboring on farms, an

occupation that was essentially unprotected by state and fed-

eral laws. During the Depression, farm wages fell to as little

as nine cents an hour. Farm workers who tried to unionize

Marian Anderson

sang from the

steps of the

Lincoln Memorial

on April 9, 1939.

▼

MAIN IDEA

Evaluating

Evaluate the

actions and

policies of the

Roosevelt

administration on

civil rights.

HISTORICAL

DEPORTATION OF

MEXICAN AMERICANS

Many Mexican Americans were

long-time residents or citizens of

the United States. Others came

during the 1920s to work on farms

in Texas, California, and Arizona.

Valued for their low-cost labor dur-

ing the good times, these migrant

workers became the target of hos-

tility during the Great Depression.

Many returned to Mexico willingly,

while others were deported by the

United States government. During

the 1930s, as many as 400,000

persons of Mexican descent, many

of them U.S. citizens, were deport-

ed to Mexico.

712 C

HAPTER 23

B. Possible

Answer

President

Roosevelt was

not committed

to full civil rights

for African

Americans. He

did not support

a federal anti-

lynching law

and an end to

poll taxes. Many

African-

American fami-

lies beneﬁted

from work relief,

but some New

Deal programs

discriminated

against African

Americans.

p0710-715aspe-0623s3 10/17/02 9:06 AM Page 712

Page 3 of 6

often met with violence from employers and government authorities. Although

the CCC and WPA helped some Mexican Americans, these agencies also discrim-

inated against them by disqualifying from their programs migrant workers who

had no permanent address.

Native Americans Gain Support

Native Americans received strong government support from the New Deal. In 1924,

Native Americans had received full citizenship by law. In 1933, President Roosevelt

appointed John Collier as commissioner of Indian affairs. Collier helped create

the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934. This act was an extreme change in govern-

ment policy. It moved away from assimilation and

toward Native American autonomy. It also helped to

restore some reservation lands to tribal ownership.

The act mandated changes in three areas:

• economic—Native American lands would

belong to an entire tribe. This provision

strengthened Native American land claims by

prohibiting the government from taking over

unclaimed reservation lands and selling them

to people other than Native Americans.

• cultural—The number of boarding schools for

Native American children was reduced, and

children could attend school on the reserva-

tions.

• political—Tribes were given permission to elect

tribal councils to govern their reservations.

Some Native Americans who valued their tribal traditions

hailed the act as an important step forward. Others who had

become more “Americanized” as individual landowners under the

previous Dawes Act objected, because they were tired of white peo-

ple telling them what was good for them.

FDR Creates the New Deal Coalition

Although New Deal policies had mixed results for minorities, these groups gener-

ally backed President Roosevelt. In fact, one of FDR’s great achievements was to

create the New Deal coalition—an alignment of diverse groups dedicated to

supporting the Democratic Party. The coalition included Southern whites, various

urban groups, African Americans, and unionized industrial workers. As a result,

Democrats dominated national politics throughout the 1930s and 1940s.

LABOR UNIONS FLOURISH

As a result of the Wagner Act and other prolabor

legislation passed during the New Deal, union members enjoyed better working

conditions and increased bargaining power. In their eyes, President Roosevelt was

a “friend of labor.” Labor unions donated money to Roosevelt’s reelection cam-

paigns, and union workers pledged their votes to him.

Between 1933 and 1941, union membership grew from less than 3 million to

more than 10 million. Unionization especially affected coal miners and workers

in mass-production industries, such as the automobile, rubber, and electrical

industries. It was in these industries, too, that a struggle for dominance within the

labor movement began to develop.

The New Deal 713

John Collier talks with Chief Richard,

one of several Native American

chiefs attending the Four Nation

Celebration held at Niagara Falls,

New York, in September 1934.

▼

MAIN IDEA

Identifying

Problems

Why was life

difﬁcult for farm

laborers during the

Depression?

MAIN IDEA

Summarizing

What changes

occurred for

Native Americans

as a result of the

New Deal?

C. Answer Farm

laborers were

essentially

unprotected by

state and feder-

al laws.

D. Answer

Native

Americans

received full cit-

izenship by law;

the Indian

Reorganization

Act turned

Native

American lands

over to individ-

ual tribes, and

allowed children

to attend

schools on the

reservations

and tribes to

elect tribal

councils to

govern their

reservations.

p0710-715aspe-0623s3 10/17/02 9:06 AM Page 713

Page 4 of 6

The American Federation of Labor (AFL) had traditionally been restricted to

the craft unions, such as carpenters and electricians. Most of the AFL leaders

opposed industrywide unions that represented all the workers in a given indus-

try, such as automobile manufacturing.

Frustrated by this position, several key labor leaders, including John L. Lewis

of the United Mine Workers of America and David Dubinsky of the International

Ladies Garment Workers, formed the Committee for Industrial Organization to

organize industrial unions. The committee rapidly signed up unskilled and semi-

skilled workers, and within two years it succeeded in gaining union recognition

in the steel and automobile industries. In 1938, the Committee for Industrial

Organization was expelled from the AFL and changed its name to the Congress

of Industrial Organizations (CIO). This split lasted until 1955.

LABOR DISPUTES

One of the main bargaining tactics of the labor movement in

the 1930s was the sit-down strike. Instead of walking off their jobs, workers

remained inside their plants, but they did not work. This prevented the factory

owners from carrying on production with strikebreakers, or scabs. Some Americans

disapproved of the sit-down strike, calling it a violation of private property.

Nonetheless, it proved to be an effective bargaining tool.

Not all labor disputes in the 1930s were peaceful. Perhaps the most dramatic

incident was the clash at the Republic Steel plant in Chicago on Memorial Day,

1937. Police attacked striking steelworkers outside the plant. One striker, an

African-American man, recalled the experience.

A PERSONAL VOICE JESSE REESE

“ I began to see people drop. There was a Mexican on my side, and he fell; and

there was a black man on my side and he fell. Down I went. I crawled around in

the grass and saw that people were getting beat. I’d never seen police beat

women, not white women. I’d seen them beat black women, but this was the

ﬁrst time in my life I’d seen them beat white women—with sticks.

”

—quoted in The Great Depression

714 C

HAPTER 23

The Growing Labor Movement, 1933–1940

Source: Historical Statistics of the United States

The Growth of Union

Membership, 1930–1940

Union Members (in millions)

1930 1932 1934 1936 1938 1940

Background

See strike on

page R45 in the

Economics

Handbook.

Robert F. Wagner

A Democratic senator from New

York (1927–1949), Robert F.

Wagner was especially interested

in workers’ welfare. Wagner intro-

duced the National Labor Relations

Act in Congress in 1935.

Sit-down strikes

Union workers—such as these CIO strikers at

the Fisher automobile plant in Flint, Michigan, in

1937—found the sit-down strike an extremely

effective method for getting their demands met.

Union

membership soars

A Ben Shahn poster

from the late 1930s

boasted of the rise

in union membership.

▼

MAIN IDEA

Analyzing

Effects

How did New

Deal policies

affect organized

labor?

E. Answer New

Deal labor laws

gave unions

greater power

to organize and

negotiate with

employers. As a

result, unions

grew in size and

joined with

other groups in

the New Deal

coalition.

p0710-715aspe-0623s3 10/17/02 9:06 AM Page 714

Page 5 of 6

Ten people were killed and 84 wounded in

this incident, which became known as the

Memorial Day Massacre. Shortly afterward, the

National Labor Relations Board stepped in and

required the head of Republic Steel, Tom

Girdler, to negotiate with the union. This and

other actions helped labor gain strength during

the 1930s.

FDR WINS IN 1936

Urban voters were

another important component of the New Deal

coalition. Support for the Democratic Party

surged, especially in large Northern cities, such

as New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and

Chicago. These and other cities had powerful

city political organizations that provided ser-

vices, such as jobs, in exchange for votes. In the

1936 election, President Roosevelt carried the

nation’s 12 largest cities.

Support for President Roosevelt came from various religious and ethnic

groups—Roman Catholics, Jews, Italians, Irish, and Polish and other Slavic peo-

ples—as well as from African Americans. His appeal to these groups was based on

New Deal labor laws and work-relief programs, which aided the urban poor. The

president also made direct and persuasive appeals to urban voters at election time.

To reinforce his support, he also appointed many ofﬁcials of urban-immigrant

backgrounds, particularly Roman Catholics and Jews, to important government

positions.

Women, African Americans, Mexican Americans, Native Americans, and

workers from all walks of life were greatly affected by the New Deal. It also had a

tremendous inﬂuence on American society and culture.

The New Deal 715

MAIN IDEA

2. TAKING NOTES

Using a web diagram like the partial

one shown here, note the effects of

New Deal policies on American

women, African Americans, Mexican

Americans, Native Americans,

unionized workers, and urban

Americans.

Write a paragraph explaining the

effects of the New Deal on one

of the groups.

CRITICAL THINKING

3. SUMMARIZING

What steps did women take toward

equality during the 1930s?

Think About:

• the role of women in government

• hiring practices in federal pro-

grams

• women’s opportunities in busi-

ness and industry

4. EVALUATING

In your opinion, did organized labor

become too powerful in the 1930s?

Explain your answer. Think About:

• why workers joined unions

• how unions organized workers

• the role of unions in politics

5. ANALYZING MOTIVES

Why did urban voters support

President Roosevelt?

Group

▼

Chicago police

attack strikers

at what would

become known as

the Memorial Day

Massacre (1937).

•Frances Perkins

•Mary McLeod Bethune

•John Collier

•New Deal coalition

•Congress of Industrial

Organizations (CIO)

1. TERMS & NAMES For each of the following terms and names, write a sentence explaining its signiﬁcance.

Effects of New Deal

p0710-715aspe-0623s3 10/17/02 9:06 AM Page 715

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