1. New Deal’s Impact on Americans
Did all Americans benefit fully from the New Deal?

2. Impact on Women 1) Women appointed to government positions
Frances Perkins = America’s 1st female cabinet member (Sec. of Labor)
2) Women face discrimination with jobs
NRA sets lower minimum wage for women than men
FERA hire less women than men, CCC hires only men
However, women in workforce increases from 11.7 to 15.6%

3. Impact on African-Americans
Af-Americans did have progress under the New Deal, many held important positions:
1) Mary McLeod Bethune: headed the
Division of Negro Affairs of the NYA
2) “Black Cabinet”: organized by Bethune & supported by Eleanor Roosevelt
influential African-Americans who indirectly advised FDR on racial issues
3) A. Phillip Randolph led all-black trade union & became a civil rights leader
-Overall, FDR does little for Civil Rights, won’t support anti-lynching law or ending poll tax

4. John Collier’s Indian Reorganization Act of 1934
- Government policy changed from assimilation to Native
American autonomy. There were three changes:
1. economic: Native American land belonged to the entire tribe
2. cultural: Native American children could now attend schools on reservations (boarding schools closed)
3. political: Tribes given permission to elect their own members for their own tribal government

5. Organized Labor
1) Due to Wagner Act, Labor Unions flourish:
union membership increases from 3 to 10 million
2) Labor issues:
AFL (skilled labor) won’t represent unskilled workers, so CIO forms to rep semi/unskilled workers
Big business still tries to reject unions causing sit-ins and some violent strikes

6. New Deal Changes America
New Deal expanded power of federal govt (esp. President), made deficit spending the “norm”, and parts of it still here today
New Deal did not end the Depression, but stopped the suffering for millions of Americans. WW II will end the Depression
FDR re-elected in 1940 (3rd term), critics say he is becoming a dictator, FDR says country needs a Second Bill of Rights