1. Section 3: The New Deal Affects Many Groups
Chapter 15
Section 3: The New Deal Affects Many Groups

2. The New Deal Brings New Opportunities
FDR named several women to important gov’t. positions.
FDR was after the female vote and was encouraged by his wife to hire women
2 Women appointed as international diplomats
Florence Ellinwood Allen was appointed to the 6th circuit. She was the first women appointed to the appellate court of appeals
Frances Perkins became America’s first female cabinet member serving as Secretary of labor
Helped create the Social Security system

3. Discrimination did not disappear
A Gallup poll, taken in 1936, reported that 82% of Americans said that a wife should not work if her husband had a job
NRA set wage codes that were lower for women
FERA and CWA hired fewer women than men, and the CCC only hired men
The number of married women working increased from 11.7% in 1930 to 15.6% in 1940
The overall number of women working only increased slightly during the Depression

4. African-American Activism
FDR appointed more than 100 African Americans to key gov’t. positions
Mary McLeod Bethune was hired by the president to head the Division of Negro Affairs of the National Youth Administration (ensured African Americans were trained and educated in NYA)
Black cabinet: Bethune helped form a group of influential African Americans that advised the Roosevelt administration on racial issues
William Henry Hastie and Robert C. Weaver (part of the black cabinet) were both appointed to the Department of Interior

5. African-American Activism con’t.
Eleanor Roosevelt resigned from the Daughters of the American Revolution when DAR would not allow African American opera singer, Marian Anderson to perform in their concert hall in D.C. Marian Anderson (1939) was allowed to perform at the Lincoln Memorial on Easter Sunday b/c of Eleanor Roosevelt.

6. Roosevelt Promoted Racial Equality but not Full Civil Rightsmeri
Didn’t want to upset white Democrats that vote in the South
Didn’t approve federal anti-lynching laws and chose not to end poll taxes
New Deal programs gave lower wages to blacks
Southern Tenant Farmers’ Union (STFU-1934): formed by Arkansas sharecroppers that were being forced of the land by the large landowners
Lobbied the gov’t to halt tenant evictions and to force landowners to share payments with the farmers who rented land

7. Mexican American Fortunes and the New Deal
Most Mexican Americans and Filipinos supported the New Deal, although they received fewer benefits than African Americans
The average Mexican American family’s income was below $300 a year ($.09 an hour as farm workers)
Mexican Americans felt they were discriminated against in the New Deal programs (harassed, denied clothing, and assigned kitchen duty more than others)
The Filipino Labor Union launched strikes to protest lower wages
American Federation of Labor sponsored the Field Workers Union, which was made up of Mexican and Filipino laborers

8. Native Americans Gain Support changes to federal Indian policy
Dawes Act ( ): attempted to Americanize Indians by dividing the tribal land into individual plots.
Native Americans must farm land for 25 years before they can take complete ownership of the land (could sell it if they wanted)
The government gave them the unproductive land so farming (raising crops) was almost impossible
They asked if they could run range cattle and were told no
Used to separate Indians from their land and cash

9. Native Americans Gain Support changes to federal Indian policy
Native American leaders stopped the Harding administration’s attempt to buy back all tribal land
Bursum Bill: designed to legalize non-Native American claims to Pueblo land
Bill would limit the power of tribal gov’t.
1924 Congress granted citizenship to all Native Americans (efforts in WW I)
Curtis Act (1898): BIA decided if Indians were competent in regards to taxes, loans, etc. so they could sell their land before the 25 year time frame
Sent out paperwork to find out if they were competent, but never really checked reviewed it

10. Native American Policy Changes Continued
Burke Act (1906): interview Indians in order to determine if they were competent so they could sell their land before the 25 year time frame.
They interviewers never really did their job (may just sign off for no real reason)
Often Indians lost their land because they didn’t know they were expected to pay taxes on their land (back taxes owed and couldn’t pay them, so lost land)
Declaration of Policy (1917): automatically competent if ½ white, so they could sell their land before the 25 year time frame
Again didn’t understand the concept of taxation and lost their land

11. Native American Policy Changes Continued
Indians Reorganization Act (1934): assimilation was no longer the focus, but instead Native American Autonomy
FDR appointed John Collier as commissioner of Indian affairs
Helped create the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934
The act mandated changes in three areas:
Economic: N.A. lands would belong to the entire tribe and the gov’t couldn’t take and sell unclaimed reservation land
Cultural: boarding schools for N.A. were reduced, and children could attend schools on reservations
Political: tribes given permission to elect tribal councils to govern their reservation

12. Native American Policy Changes continued
Termination and Relocation Act (1950s): null and void all federal and tribal treaties make reservations just part of the state.
Relocation: take Indians off the reservation and assimilate them into white society
Great Society Program (1960s-LBJ): War on Poverty created, but Vietnam caused the War on Poverty to come to an end
Indians receive prenatal care and meals
Self Determination (1973-Nixon): get ideas from tribal leaders to help reservations recover (feds got out of the way)
Gov’t finally leaves Native Americans alone

13. FDR Creates the New Deal Coalition
New Deal coalition: an alignment of diverse groups dedicated to supporting the Democratic Party
President Roosevelt was considered a “friend of labor.”
Between 1933 and 1941, union membership grew from less than 3 million to more than 10 million, especially in the areas of coal and mass-production industries.
AFL didn’t want industry-wide unions that represented all the workers in a given industry, such as auto manufacturing
John Lewis (United Mine Workers) and David Dubinsky (International Ladies Garment Workers) formed the Committee for Industrial Organizations to organize industrial unions
In 1938, the Committee was expelled from the AFL and changes its name to the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO)
The AFL and CIO re-united in 1955.

14. Sit down strikes became the main bargaining tactics of labor union (remained at work, which made it difficult for owners to bring in strikebreakers/scabs)
The strike at Republic Steel plant in Chicago, on Memorial Day, was on of the most violent (Memorial Day Massacre)
Ten people were killed and 84 wounded
The NLRB forced Tom Girdler (head of the plant) to negotiate with the union

15. FDR wins reelection in the 1936 presidential election
The largest cities in North that had powerful city political organizations that provided services in exchange for votes supported FDR
Urban Americans supported FDR based on his New Deal programs and work-relief programs
Appointed many urban-immigrants, particularly Roman Catholics and Jews, to important gov’t jobs
Minorities and workers in all walks of life supported FDR, b/c they were all impacted by the New Deal