African+Americans+and+Women

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The 1930's were a great time of stress for the entire world. The decade started right after the Wall Street Crash of 1929, which left, the U.S. reeling from the crashing of the stock market. Consequentially, the U.S. spent most of the decade in a downward economic spiral, known as the Great Depression. This era affected two civil rights movements of women and blacks in very different ways. =====

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Photos from the great depression-From left: A migrant worker mother with her children; Workers line up to sign up for food stamps; Several citizens march in protest. =====

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African Americans in the 1930s achieved many great things, but suffered as well. For most of the 1930s, Franklin D Roosevelt was president, and he was considered something of a hero to most minorities. His New Deal programs were hugely beneficial to African Americans, giving them at least 10% of welfare payments, in a program that was supposed to benefit the poor, which they already were. African Americans responded favorably, which eventually led to them faithfully voting democratic. Franklin D Roosevelt also appointed an unprecedented amount of blacks to his cabinet, which was eventually known as the Black Cabinet. =====

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Since the president was somewhat reluctant to take too aggressive of a stance on civil rights issues, afraid that he would lose voters, several other people worked together to advance the movement themselves. Several blacks who were rejected from schools solely based on their race petitioned their cases to the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court. These were the Murray v. Pearson and Missouri ex rel. Gaines v. Canada cases. In these cases a student was not admitted to the school of their choice simply because they were black. The students won their case, and it was one of the first times that the “separate but equal” standard was reconsidered. =====

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Something worth noting was that in the 1936 Olympics at Berlin, an event that was supposed to showcase the superiority the white, blond haired, and blue eyed ideal man, was that the African American Jesse Owens won 4 gold medals, which was unprecedented. This was the beginning of people understanding that not only are blacks equal, they can be better than other races, something which is commonly accepted today. Owens managed to do this after often being discriminated against, like having to eat at black-only restaurants, while the rest of his team was enjoying themselves. Another similar thing that happened was that the little league was formed, which was the first non-segregated youth sport, and which caused outrage with many parents. =====

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However, Africans Americans did have some problems in this time, mostly in the south. In the area known as the Jim Crow south, it was particularly bad. A black man could get lynched just for looking at a white girl. Many times the “jury” composed of the townspeople who lynched the man, would find insufficient evidence to prosecute someone. The main problem is that justice was not being carried out by people who get paid to carry out justice. The best example of this was the case of the Scottsboro boys, in which the African American defendants were given an incompetent lawyer, were tried by an all white jury, and basically had a judge who was very biased against them. Even after one of the accusers admitted to a frame-up they were still found guilty. =====

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Women in the 1930s had some notable individual accomplishments. Jane Addams became the first ever woman to win the Nobel peace prize, after years of campaigning for peace and women’s rights. Amelia Earhart also became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean, and continued to be a prolific pilot until her mysterious disappearance. =====

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However for the most part, the 1930s were a period of gain less struggle. During the great depression jobs were scarce, and jobs for women were even rare still. Some people even viewed woman as money stealing money grubbers, who just wanted the extra money, and were stealing jobs from men who needed them to support their families. Only about 25% of women were gainfully employed, and most of these women were schoolteachers or nurses, hardly groundbreaking jobs. The amount of degrees earned by women fell significantly as well There were also many restrictions for woman being in the army during the outbreak of WW 1, and most women had to volunteer with certain groups to help their country. Many women were struggling to survive, and usually the responsibility of taking care of the home while the husband worked occupied their time. =====

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Overall these two civil rights movements had two very different eras. The blacks were successful, with various legislative accomplishments, that put them on a nearly equal level with rights. The women, however, were less successful, spending most of the era believing the passage of the 19th amendment had fixed their problems, and making little progress in being respected and considered equal. ===== **Works Cited** __[]__ __[|http://www.loyno.edu/~history/journal/1988-9/moran.htm]__ __[]__ __[|http://frank.mtsu.edu/~kmiddlet/history/women/time/wh-1930s.html]__ __[]__ __[]__ __[]__ __[]__ __[]__ __[|http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ug02/newyorker/race.html]__ __[]__