From a Raw Deal to a New Deal: African Americans 1929-1945 (The ^AYoung Oxford History of African Americans) - Hardcover

Trotter Jr., Joe William

9780195087710: From a Raw Deal to a New Deal: African Americans 1929-1945 (The ^AYoung Oxford History of African Americans)

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0195087712 ISBN 13: 9780195087710

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 1996

Bank closings, soup kitchens, bread lines, unemployed workers begging for work--these images defined the 1930s and '40s in America. For African Americans the era was a study in contrasts: black workers had the highest unemployment rate at a time when black leaders held important positions in Franklin Roosevelt's administration; New Deal legislation threw hundreds of thousands of black sharecroppers off the land while the same federal government provided unprecedented opportunities for black writers and artists; dramatic episodes of racist violence against African Americans occurred just as Communists and other radicals launched a nationwide campaign against racial injustice.
When the United States entered World War II in 1941, the horrors of war provided an opportunity for blacks to demand equal treatment. As the African American servicemen, such as the all-black 99th fighter squadron (also known as the "Tuskegee Airmen"), fought for democracy overseas, black people at home were treated like second-class citizens. The war also created employment opportunities for many black working people. But few managed to get industrial jobs or into training programs, and those who did were likely to experience violent reprisals from disgruntled white workers. While U.S. troops invaded Normandy and bombed Okinawa, African Americans fought their own war at home.
From a Raw Deal to a New Deal examines the impact of the depression and the war on black communities. The response of workers, farmers, activists, and the federal government, the inspiring cultural and intellectual achievements of such leading African Americans as Marcus Garvey, W. E. B. Du Bois, Langston Hughes, and Marian Anderson, and the role that war-time industrialization and recovery played in black protest movements paved the way for the modern civil rights movement. This is fascinating and relevant history for today's young people.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

About the Author:

Joe William Trotter, Jr., is professor of history at Carnegie-Mellon University. Professor Trotter is the author of Coal, Class, and Color: Blacks in Southern West Virginia, 1915-1932, Black Milwaukee: The Making of an Industrial Proletariat, 1915-1945, and editor of The Great Migration in Historical Perspective: New Dimensions of Race, Class, and Gender.

From School Library Journal:

Grade 7 Up-Trotter examines the important events and major forces of 1929-1945 in the U.S. from the perspective of African Americans. He notes that while they made socio-political, economic, and cultural advancements through a plethora of New Deal-created opportunities, many blacks were concurrently being treated as second-class citizens and suffering racial violence at the hands of disgruntled, fearful working-class whites. He concludes that it wasn't until 1935 that the "raw deal" began to be transformed into a "new deal." The author makes clear that federal response was helpful, but that it was the efforts of African Americans themselves that brought about the changes leading to full citizenship, civil-rights protection, and economic gains. He backs up his conclusions with archival evidence gleaned from primary sources, generously quoting African Americans who lived and struggled during the period. An outstanding selection of black-and-white historical photographs are included. A worthy addition that complements Milton Meltzer's Brother, Can You Spare a Dime? (Facts on File, 1990) and the McKissacks' Civil Rights Movement in America from 1865 to the Present (Childrens, 1991).?David A. Lindsey, Lakewood High and Middle School Libraries, WA
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.