The great depression began in the U.S. with the Stock Market Crash in October of 1929. The depression years had a profound impact on African Americans as well as whites. When thinking of the great depression many people don't consider race but it stands to reason that since there was inequalities and discrimination in America before the depression, that they would not change, even during a national economic crisis. Even in the affluent times leading up to the depression, many never considered the uneven distribution of wealth. In the post WWI years, African Americans were found increasingly in the work force of wage earners. As people continued to move to cities of industry, white labor continued to discriminate against African Americans, almost completely excluding them from the unions.

Many white workers would use violence or threats of violence to force black workers out of their jobs, for instance, in 1932; the white workers of the Illinois Central Railroad killed ten black rail workers. Also, the number of African American firemen dropped by 70 percent in the years following the war and in Atlanta; white firemen were given preference before black firemen. These hostile feelings were the basis for the formation of several groups dedicated to ending racial discrimination in the workplace. The Friends of Negro Freedom, the National Association for the Promotion of Labor Unionism among Negroes and The American Negro Labor Congress all fought to abolish discrimination and any exploitation of African American labor. A. Philip Randolph's Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and Maids was effective in creating a black labor union managing to organize a wage increase of over 1,000,000 for 8,000 workers of the Pullman Company.

After the war, the number of African American businesses increased which also increased the political and economic power of the black business owner. When the economy began to fail people became unemployed and pay dropped, which hit the black businesses hard. It was hard just for the business owners, however. In the farming states, many farms were abandoned leaving both the white and African American farmers out of work. The number of black farm owners was decreasing since the wars end, but international competition in crops such as cotton, sugar, and tobacco made it difficult for American farm owners, both black and white, to keep up. Thousands of African Americans lost their jobs as the economy began to recede so when the stock market actually crashed many African Americans were already unemployed.

Much industry failed and banks closed the African Americans of the cities lost their jobs, while those living in rural American were subject to severe pay cuts, barely enough to live on. Many blacks who worked in the houses of more affluent people lost their jobs because their employers could not afford such luxuries any longer. With no job and no savings it was not long before most blacks were suffering the full effects of not just unemployment but of hunger as well.

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Jesus loves the outdoors. You can usually find him getting ready to go swimming or hiking. You can check out his recent web site where he writes about double sleeping bags and baseball monogram sleeping bags.