Blacks & The Economy, Research Paper Example

Despite the adoption of democratic norms in the constitution and the generally accepted notion in the American society about the equal status for all despite ethnic, religious or cultural background, a subtle insinuation of white superiority has always existed in the United States as well as elsewhere in the world. Colored people including the blacks have always been at a disadvantage, be it in terms of education and job opportunities, access to fundamental rights or representation in institutions and organizations which carry political, economic and social clout. Such differences have surfaced more prominently during the present downtrend in the economy as well as in the last great depression in the earlier half of the twentieth century in American history. Blacks who were originally brought as workers for the large cotton plantations suffered a lot under the various colonial rulers until the American independence and the emergence of the United States of America brought some sort of sanity for the general masses. However, the black population continued to suffer indignities and disadvantages as compared to the majority white ruling class.

The great depression in the 1930-40s further deepened this crisis when unsavory race relations complicated the situation inexorably (memory.loc.gov). By the years 1932 nearly half of the American Black population was unemployed, particularly in the northern regions of the country where the majority whites called for the firing of all Black Americans as long as they themselves were out of work. The period was further marred by racial violence and blacks were selectively lynched by the white people in certain states. Although President Roosevelt had a number of African Americans as his advisors, political pressures forced him to restrict some of the privileges in housing and employment which were highly tilted towards whites. Roosevelt was however looked upon as a great hope for the Black people as he discussed a number of issues facing them with his advisors as he began in earnest to handle the situation arising out of the economic depression. At the advent of the Second World War it was only a threatened march to the White House by the labor leader, A. Philip Randolph that forced President Roosevelt to issue an Executive Order (8802) which prevented discrimination due to color for recruitment into the American armed forces (memory.loc.gov). Groups such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) came up during that era for the assertion of rights of the colored people.

America had experienced a relatively better economic scenario in the 1920s, immediately after the end of the First World War, when business thrived and urbanization was the trend. Agriculture became secondary to the many businesses which came up during the period and people started enjoying the luxuries of life such as washing machines, radios and automobiles (Bryant, 2009). This ushered in an industrial age and the northern parts of the country particularly thrived. Black people, who associated slavery and exploitation to the southern states started migrating northwards in search of greener pastures. By this time the African Americans had shed their slavery tag and established themselves well in socio-cultural and educational fields. The African American Press particularly played an important role in this resurgence and advocated equal rights and opportunities for their community (G. Felecia et al, 2004).It was during the First World War that the trend for migrating northwards gained momentum. The aspirations at that stage were so great that it was labeled as the ‘Great Migration’ in which people searched for job and business opportunities in the industrialized northern states. The migration was however resented by the white majority who was suspicious as well as fearful of the black people and considered them to be outside of the American mainstream culture (G. Felecia et al, 2004). The situation turned sour with the initiation of the great depression which resulted as a sequel to failure of agriculture which upset the dream for developing America primarily as a business based country as envisaged by the then President Calvin Coolidge (Bryant, 2009). During this relatively prosperous period, business boomed in America and Hollywood became the movie capital of the world. People were free to move to other parts of the country and this fuelled the movement of Black people into cultural pursuits such as jazz music which was the basis for what is known as ‘Harlem Renaissance’ or the rebirth of black culture (Greene, 1993). In 1928, Herbert Clark Hoover took over the reigns as President who stressed upon decentralization and independent business operations by private individuals with the government just playing the role of an ‘umpire’ who looked after the conservation of natural resources, providing solutions for natural disasters as well as scientific research. He stressed upon the need for encouraging private enterprise and innovation which would stimulate independence of thought and action as well as a healthy competition among the different private businesses which would in turn fuel the American economy. Although programs were introduced for streamlining agriculture produce and its marketing, the sector failed miserably which served as a prelude to the stock market crash. The increased dependence on mechanization due to the industrial revolution resulted in rise in agriculture produce but unfortunately, at the same time, the markets shriveled up. The financial sector which was built on a foundation of domestic and international credit collapsed inwardly due to over dependence on speculation and the stock market boom. The end result was a severe crisis in which millions of people lost their jobs and there was chaos all around. People were rendered homeless and were left roaming in the streets in search of food and shelter. Blacks, who were already on the lower social rung in the American society, suffered the most. They were enrolled in the lowest paying, unskilled jobs which they lost and there was a tendency to fire them at the slightest notice. In fact, a phrase ‘last hired & first fired; became common for the black people (Bryant, 2009). Resistance up north forced them to stay in the southern states where they worked as petty farm laborers with no wages, but just a small portion of the agriculture produce as salary which was further curtailed to pay for the shelter they received in predominantly white owned farms. Another complication was the influx of over a million Mexicans into America who did not fare any better and increases the stress upon resources. As a result, majority of them along with the children born in the United States were repelled back to Mexico. It was at this juncture in 1932 that President Franklin D. Roosevelt took over and initiated immediate measures to tide over the crisis. His three primary goals were, to initiate a recovery from the depression, provide relief to the victims and initiate reforms in the economic sector (Bryant, 2009). President Roosevelt analyzed the problems microscopically and discussed everything patiently with his advisers in form of ‘fireside chats’ which were successful in grabbing the attention of the common man through the medium of radio. He initiated the reforms in a manner which is popularly known as a ‘New Deal’ in which he initially proposed to align business, banking, agriculture, industry, labor and capital in a mutually beneficial direction to stem the economic crisis. The first step he took was to introduce a bank holiday to aid banks to retain the savings deposited in them so that may not fail like the already bankrupt ones. During an initial period of ‘100 days’ a number of legislative changes were brought about which ensured jobs for the unemployed, a cohesion between businesses, workers and the government, rules to control competition among businesses and building highways, buildings and dams (Bryant, 2009). Agriculture production was subdued to increase the demand for essential crops in the market. Things started improving after these measures and the final important decision was to initiate a social security system for the citizens, which provided for pensions to the retired Americans as well as unemployment insurance to people. Although not a complete success in easing the depression, these measures were at least able to provide a positive framework for further progress, especially after America was engrossed in the Second World War which reinforced its economy.  Blacks, however, still felt discriminated against as they were paid lower salaries than whites, forced to live in segregated habitations, and discriminated against for recruitment in the military. Blacks were forced to work for paltry salaries and women in particular worked as household help for whites who exploited them to the maximum limits by making them work for 18-24 hours with an average weekly salary of $ 3.5 (Palmer, 1997). These issues were addresses later by President Roosevelt who passed a law to stop discrimination on the basis of caste, creed and color (rs6.loc.gov). Thus slowly and steadily things were shaping up well in the United States after President Roosevelt’s term but blacks still did not attain the same status as the whites.

The intervening postwar period saw many ups and downs but America ultimately emerged as one of the most powerful nations of the world after the Second World War. America witnessed another nine periods of depression during the last fifty years but the extent and periods were limited with interspersed recoveries. Discrimination against the blacks witnessed a steady decline and they started making vital contributions to the American culture as well as economy.

The recent recession which surfaced in 2008 had a global impact and within the United States again the stark differences between the whites and the black population resurfaced. All minorities including the Hispanics, Asians and the Blacks in particular were hit hard in terms of loss of employment and the troubles for them surfaced sooner than they did for the whites (Logan, 2009). The unemployment rates figures are illustrative of this situation. The unemployment rate for blacks was 11.5 % as compared to only 6.3 %for the whites (Logan, 2009). The unemployment rate also reflected the discrimination as it was 38.1% larger than that for whites (Logan, 2009). Such discrepancies were glaring in their content as suggested by the figures for employment growth, employment to population ratio, earnings, healthcare, home ownership and people living below the poverty line were evaluated. The figures suggest that the Black people as well as other ethnic minorities are certainly at more of a disadvantage as compared to their white counterparts. Although racial equality and equal opportunity are the watchwords in today’s employment scenario, black men in particular appear to be more prone to unemployment due to disproportionate employment in vulnerable industries such as manufacturing and construction as well as labor market discrimination (Cawthorne, 2009). According to the author, the reasons for this are high rates of incarceration, limited education, child support arrearages and discrimination against black men (Cawthorne, 2009). Although lack of education is often cited as the reason for less employability of black Americans, there is a clear case for discrimination as even well educated black youngsters are less favored than whites with similar qualifications for employment purposes (www.globalreseacrh.ca). As in the last great depression in the earlier part of the twentieth century, unemployment rates for black men are rising at a higher; almost double rates as compared to white men. Recommendations to stem this trend include initiation of policies which address issues of racial discrimination at the time of new employment opportunities, as and when the crop up in the future, modernization of unemployment insurance, support for the Employee Free Choice Act, initiation of community based youth development programs to encourage educational pursuits among black youngsters and more opportunities in thriving and sustainable industries (Cawthorne, 2009).

Although the United States of America has witnessed a historic rise of an African American to the position of the President in 2009, still much needs to be done to remove this scourge from the country which claims to be a land of freedom for the entire human race. Opportunities for blacks as well as other minorities within the nation should be at par with those for whites, if the country harbors any intention for being known as a true democracy in the future.

Works Cited

Bryant, J. The Great Depression and New Deal, 2009, online article accessed Dec. 6, 2009 at: http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1998/4/98.04.04.x.html

Cawthorne, A. Weathering the Storm: Black Men in the Recession 2009, online article accessed Dec. 6, 2009 at: http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2009/04/black_men_recession.html

Felecia, Ross, J. & McKerns, J.P. Depression in “The Promised Land”: The Chicago Defender Discourages Migration, 1929-1940 American Journalism, 21(1), 55-73, 2004

Great Depression And World War II, 1929-1945, Online article accessed Dec. 5, 2009 at: http://memory.loc.gov/learn//features/timeline/depwwii/race/race.html

Greene, L.A. Harlem, The Depression Years: Leadership and Social Conditions Afro-Americans in New York Life and History 17:2 p.33 July 1993.

Logan, A. The State of Minorities: The Recession Issue, 2009. Online article accessed Dec. 6, 2009 at: http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2009/01/state_of_minorities.html

Palmer, P. Black Domestics During the Depression: Workers, Organizers, Social Commentators, Federal Records and African American History, Vol. 29, No. 2, pp. 1-6, Prologue Magazine. Summer, 1997.

The Depression, The New Deal, and World War II, online article accessed Dec. 6, 2009 at: http://rs6.loc.gov/ammem/aaohtml/exhibit/aopart8.html

The Impacts of the Recession on African Americans, Global Research, April 28, 2009. Online article accessed Dec. 5, 2009 at: http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=13398