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The unemployment rate in the United States of America is on average 5%. According to that statistic, most American adults have paying jobs, not depending on race or gender. Today, everyone has an equal chance for every job. This was not the way it always was, though. During the Great Depression, unemployment rates were at an all-time low for white Americans, but were even worse for minorities. The Great Depression was a long and severe recession in the economy during the 1930s in America. Minorities had to face racism and sexism from whites in addition to a jobless and non-income life. The Great Depression had different effects on minorities such as Black Americans, Mexican Americans, Women, and American Indians. For Black Americans, 1930s …show more content…
America consisted of joblessness, racism, and violence. They were faced with more discrimination that arguably any other minority group because they had never been welcome in America. The Depression increased the unfairness towards them because, in the minds of whites, blacks “did not deserve the jobs” as much as they did ( Minority Groups and The Great Depression). During the time of the Depression, Franklin D. Roosevelt was president. African Americans were excited by Roosevelt’s enthusiasm to end the problems created for blacks by the Depression; consequently, they changed their previous voting patterns of choosing a Republican to voting for Roosevelt. Normality did not change, though, once he was elected. Disrespect and violence were still daily aspects of life. When white people got fired from their jobs, they fired blacks so that their jobs could be taken over by the whites . were thought of as invaluable compared to whites, which resulted in a loss of opportunity. By 1935, over 50% of black Americans were without income and could not support their families. This resulted in 40% of black workers to be farmers, though hardly any were actually landowners. Black Americans had it the worst of all minorities during the Depression, according to the Library of Congress. Violence “became more and more common” as white people continued to lose their jobs (Race During The Great Depression). They were angry because they were losing their jobs, so they took it out on whoever they could blame. There were multiple 28 instances of the lynching of black people; a 57% increase from times earlier than the 1930s. Demoralization was an emotion felt by many blacks during the Great Depression due to discrimination against them. Mexican Americans faced a great deal of hostility during the 1930s.
In the early 1920s, Mexican Americans were asked to come over to America because of their extensive knowledge of farming and agriculture. As a result, they were blamed for some of America’s many economic problems. Moreover, they were thought of as taking jobs away from whites. Whites were considered more important than any colored people, so Mexican Americans lost their opportunity for success due to the economic failure of the country that they were asked to come and work in. Correspondingly, many Mexican immigrants were either asked to leave America to make more opportunity for whites, or, they were deported. Likewise, Mexican Americans had to face this threat of deportation along with the threats of every other American. By the middle 1930s, thousands of Mexican immigrants had been deported, some only deported “simply on suspicion of being Mexican” (Mexican - Depression and the Struggle for Survival - Immigration). Some Mexicans were even tricked into going on trains that would take them back to Mexico. Also, due to the corruption of the economy, many of the farms that Mexicans were working on were shut down. Subsequently, those Mexicans had to move from their normal life to migrant work camps, formed by Farm Security Administration. By the end of the Great Depression, though, Mexican Americans “were established throughout the U.S. workforce” because they had continued to push through the hardships faced …show more content…
and come out of the dark years with successful jobs (Mexican - Depression and the Struggle for Survival - Immigration). Despite the early violence and racism towards Mexican Americans, the Depression ceased to alter their perseverance. For women, the Depression was not entirely derogatory.
Women were faced with many more responsibilities during the Great Depression because of their husband’s job loss; conversely, they also were shown more opportunity. America was relying on their families much more than usual and women were usually the center of their families. Not only did they have to do all of the housework, but they also had to take care of their depressed husbands who had been laid off from their jobs. In addition to their husbands feeling depressed, they would also “refuse to help out at home because chores were ‘a woman’s’ job” (The 1930s: Lifestyles and Social Trends: Overview). Women had to take care of all family affairs at home, while being oppressed by their husbands. Despite the obligations women were faced with during the Depression, they were also shown contingency. According to the article “Women and The Great Depression”, the percentage of women employed rose by two percent, which resulted in two million new jobs. Women did not work in industry and manufacturing businesses like their husbands; instead, they worked in clerical and sales fields. The manufacturing and industry jobs were hit the hardest by the economic deterioration of the United States; clerical and sales fields were hit minimally. This gave women an edge because, contrary to the norm in an American woman’s household, the female was the one who had a paying job, not the husband. The Great Depression put a great deal of
pressure on women to take care of their families, but, it also opened up opportunities for them to succeed. American Indians were affected by the Great Depression in a different way than the other minorities. Like the rest of the other groups, they did have jobs taken away. But, they also lost most of their native land. By the ending years of the Great Depression, the government had taken away more than two-thirds of American Indian land. Before the economic disaster, there were 155 million acres of Native American land. Once the Depression started, though, Native American land was reduced to forty-eight million acres. The government claimed that they needed the land to supply more jobs for other Americans. Accordingly, American Indians were lost and felt that they were being specifically victimized by the government. Once Roosevelt was elected in 1933, circumstances started to change for the Indian Americans. They had pride in Roosevelt because he recognized what was happening and pledged to change what was going on. Roosevelt followed through with his promise by appointing John Collier as the Commissioner of Indian Affairs. The result of this new assignment was more jobs created specifically for Indians and the Indian Reorganization Act. This act was made so that Indians could have a fair chance to get jobs that all other Americans could have. As a result of this act, “more than 85000 Indians were employed” (Digital History of Indians). In the beginning of the Great Depression, Indian Americans were hardly recognized as a group. Almost 80% of the minority group were unemployed because they were not looked at as important by the U.S. government. Nonetheless, the American Indians ended the Great Depression with more jobs than whites. With the help of President Roosevelt and his Commissioner of Indian Affairs, the American Indians came out of a jobless society and transformed to a successful community. Minority groups were affected by The Great Depression in different ways; all of them equally important, though. Overall, it can be concluded that the Depression hit these minorities harder than it did white Americans. Each of the minorities were affected in different ways by The Depression, but they were all considered less important and valuable than whites. As a result, these groups were faced with hardships and struggles that white Americans did not have to face. Minorities groups had different experiences with work and life during the Great Depression.
They way people interacted with others changed in the Great Depression. One of the main changes is the way the family was run. During the glutted 1920s, the father is the support of the family while the mother do the housekeeping. When the great depression struck, the men lost their jobs. They can no longer support their families. Because of self pride, many fathers left their families and never came back because felt that they lost their purpose in the
May argues that “the depression thus paved way for two different family forms: one with two breadwinners who shared tasks and the other with spouses whose roles were sharply differentiated.” In the latter form the father would have earned a “family wage” while his wife would have been responsible the children and their home, only working if it was necessary to supplement her husband’s income. This trend was caused mainly by two factors. During the financial strain of the depression, marriage and birth rates were much lower than they had been in the previous decade while the divorce rate was much higher. Young men of the time were afraid that they would not be able to provide for their new families and chose not to get married. While young women on the other hand, encountered an employment boom that allowed them to gain a sense of economic freedom that allowed them to not feel compelled to marry. This new single woman was glamorized by Hollywood during the 1930s. However, families tended toward choosing a life with the husband earning a “family wage” with the wife at home. Why? May concludes, "for all its affirmation of the emancipation of women, Hollywood fell short of pointing the way toward a restructured family that would incorporate independent women." Films from the 1930s like Gone with the Wind and His Girl Friday portrayed strong female leads that had to choose between their independent working life and domestic happiness, as it seemed that both could not coexist in their lives. Another cause for this were the programs implemented during the New Deal Era. Such programs aimed to raise male employment levels and often did nothing for female employment. Men had become embittered during the depression when women
During World War II, the United States was in dire need of Mexico and its laborers. The Americans were at war and the labor was needed to supply the soldiers with food as well as to help keep the countries’ agriculture business going. As well, the Mexican government failed to provide many Mexican peasants who were skilled workers with the resources they needed to improve their lives following the Mexican Revolution of 1910. With this being said, by the late 1930’s, many crops in Mexico were insufficient, making those skilled workers look elsewhere for jobs. On August 4th, 1942, the United States and Mexico negotiated a temporary contract to allow Mexican guest workers into the United States. These agricultural and railroad labor contracts were intended to be short-term and terminated once World War II was over. However, after involving over 4.5 million people, it can be said that the longstanding effects of this program contributed to today’s illegal immigration from Mexico. By analyzing the different components involved with The Bracero Program, there will be a deeper understanding to how this intended short-term legal contract
The drive to keep jobs out of the hands of Mexicans had the highly undesirable result of forcing many families to depend on welfare to survive. Many Mexicans were forced to leave and rounded up by immigration officials, while others were intimidated by immigration practices and left voluntarily. While some left willingly because of the poor economic outlook, hoping things would be better in Mexico, others were deported even if they had come to the United States legally. One reporter called for an investigation of immigr...
During WWII, women took over the work force, and had such inspirations as Rosie the Riveter. This created a generation of women who wanted more out of life than birthing children, and keeping a nice home for their husband. The end of the war, however, brought with it a decrease of working women. In the 1950’s the rate of working women had slightly rebounded to 29% following the post-war decrease in 1945. These women were well rounded, working outside the home, and still having dinner on the table by 5PM.
Between 1880 and 1920 almost twenty-four million immigrants came to the United States. Between better salaries, religious freedom, and a chance to get ahead in life, were more than enough reasons for leaving their homelands for America. Because of poverty, no future and various discrimination in their homelands, the incentive to leave was increasing. During the mid-1800's and early 1900's, the labor and farm hands in Eastern Europe were only earning about 15 to 30 a day. In America, they earned 50 cents to one dollat in a day, doubling their paycheck. Those lower wage earners in their homeland were st...
However, when the war was over, and the men returned to their lives, society reverted back to as it had been not before the 1940s, but well before the 1900s. Women were expected to do nothing but please their husband. Women were not meant to have jobs or worry about anything that was occurrin...
Starting in the late nineteenth century until the end of World War II, the immigration policy in the United States experienced dramatic changes that altered the pace of immigration. High rates of immigration sparked adverse emotions and encouraged restrictive legislation and numerous bills in Congress advocated the suspension of immigration and the deportation of non-Americans (Wisconsin Historical Society). Mexican American history was shaped by several bills in Congress and efforts to deport all non-Americans from the United States. The United States was home to several Spanish-origin groups, prior to the Declaration of Independence. The term “Mexican American” was a label used to describe a number of Hispanic American groups that were diverse and distinct from each other (Healey). Between 1910 and 1930, Mexican’s immigrated to the Southwest regions of the United States and began to work as low paid, unskilled physical laborers. Mexican immigrants took jobs as migratory laborers or seasonal workers in mines or on commercial farms and ranches. These jobs resulted in isolation and physical immobility with little opportunity for economic success (Mitz). Mexican Americans were not alone in their struggle to adapt to mainstream America and fight racial discrimination in education, jobs, wages and politics.
America the land of opportunities, millions of people have left their countries to look for a chance to start a new life, a new beginning. Over the last 400 years, immigrants from different parts of the world left their countries for different reasons, some for war in their homelands others for economic and social reasons. Mexican community was one of the first group of people that stablished a strong presence in the country; therefor had and still has big influence in the development of the United States economically and industrially. Besides the contributions of the Mexican Community to America, Mexican decedents had faced challenges of acceptance from the American society, in a land that once was Mexican territory.
For many years, unjust treatment of Mexicans and Mexican Americans has occurred in the United States. Over the years, people like Cesar Chavez, Dolores Huerta, and Emma Tenayuca have fought to improve civil rights and better treatment for farm workers. The textbook that I have been reading during the semester for my Chicano History class, Crucible of Struggle: A history of Mexican Americans from Colonial times to the Present Era, discusses some of the most important issues in history that Mexicans and Mexicans Americans have gone through. Some of these problems from the past are still present today. Not all of the racial problems were solved, and there is a lot to be done. I have analyzed two different articles about current historical events that have connections between what is happening today and what had happened in Mexican American History.
Women were not only separated by class, but also by their gender. No woman was equal to a man and didn’t matter how rich or poor they were. They were not equal to men. Women couldn’t vote own business or property and were not allowed to have custody of their children unless they had permission from their husband first. Women’s roles changed instantly because of the war. They had to pick up all the jobs that the men had no choice but to leave behind. They were expected to work and take care of their homes and children as well. Working outside the home was a challenge for these women even though the women probably appreciated being able to provide for their families. “They faced shortages of basic goods, lack of childcare and medical care, little training, and resistance from men who felt they should stay home.” (p 434)
During the Great War and the huge amount of men that were deployed created the need to employ women in hospitals, factories, and offices. When the war ended the women would return home or do more traditional jobs such as teaching or shop work. “Also in the 1920s the number of women working raised by fifty percent.” They usually didn’t work if they were married because they were still sticking to the role of being stay at home moms while the husband worked and took care of the family financially. But among the single women there was a huge increase in employment. “Women were still not getting payed near as equally as men and were expected to quit their jobs if they married or pregnant.” Although women were still not getting payed as equally it was still a huge change for the women's
Change and hardship go hand in hand, because when hard times emerge society is forced to change. During the Great Depression the idea of gender roles stirred up a great deal of controversy but it also opened the door for change. It gave society a push into a new direction. In order to survive, a number of people had to move away from their traditional way of living in order to take care of their household (Goutour, November 5, 2013). It was now more acceptable and easier for women to find work, while men on the other hand had feelings of emasculation and hostility due to not being able to fulfill their role as the breadwinner (Hollingsworth & Tyyska, 3). This paper will argue that the Great Depression had a major impact on gender roles by examining the shift of dominance within the workforce, the traditional aspects that still remained present within the home and the new meaning that was placed on marriage for both male and females during that time.
Everyone was competing against one another in order to survive and provide for their families. Women were one of the groups of people that were discriminated against. During this era many women did not work because they stayed at home to look after their children and their household while the men went and worked. However, there were some women that were working at this time and when the great depression hit it was easier for women to keep their jobs or get jobs than compared to men because most of the industries that had shut down were employed by
First of all, the unemployment rates are usually low in some areas like in many other races. They are at its worst around Alaska, Northern Plains, and Southwest Regions. Also the gap between them and whites are largest around the Southern area. And to end that, the recovery rate is pretty slow.