Have you ever reached a check out at your local grocer and found you were lacking funds and because of this, you were meant to strip off items you didnt necessarily need? Or things that you did need but simply just could not afford? America suffered an extended period of time like this where throughout the nation; every family struggled with making amends with the essentials needed to carry on a well, sustainable life. This time was known as the Great Depression. The Great Depression was one of the largest and worst collapses in the history of American Capitalism. 1 Not one family was immune to this historical event during the 1930s. All ethnic backgrounds from blacks in Harlem to Mexicans dealing with the Mexican reparation to the whites and so on were affected in this economic crisis and, while they all dealt with things that were thrown at them differently, the outcome was still the samethey were struggling to make ends meet. A large population living in Harlem, New York, struggled even more so than many other Americans throughout the nation, let alone New York. Blacks had it difficult in this run down and expensive area. Families paid more for the rent alone than those elsewhere like Manhattan despite the fact that Harlem families actually made less than many places outside of Harlem. This easily cut down the amount of food and supplies they were able to afford. They lived among rats, bugs, and an overall unsanitary area but given many locations outside of Harlem would not accept blacks, they had no other option but to stay where they were unless the families wanted to be put out on the streets. Drastic times turned into drastic measures and many people turned to different things to make ends meet when jobs were beyond scarce to find. From borrowing money from friends or family, to lodging, prostitution, policy slipping, and illegal activity, these people did just about anything they could to survive. Though, because many blacks were accustomed to already living in poverty, it didnt hit them as hard to the extent that it did to the middle class families. The poorest of people spent less on every item in their budget than the general group of blacks did but on average went simply eight percent over budget while Whites were known to go up to over fifteen percent over budget. 2
Unfortunately, Harlem wasnt necessarily considered sanitary or safe. With the low income that the families had and the terrible conditions they lived in, they were more prone to crime, being overcrowded, high disease and death as well. With tuberculosis being four times higher in Harlem, it was no surprise as to why. Black women died in child birth twice as much as
1 Shmoop Editorial Team, "The Great Depression: People,"Shmoop University, Inc., 11 November 2008, http://www.shmoop.com/great-depression (accessed April 13, 2014). 2 Cherly Greenberg, Mean Streets: Black Harlem in the Great Depression, in Or Does it Explode?, ed. Cherly Greenberg (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997), pg. 216. Ilse Medina
white women did 3 . From one thousand live births, ninety-four central Harlem babies died which easily amounted to almost two times the cities death rate. With time, however, blacks being used to the poor life, they were used to treatment that many white people were simply unaccustomed to. This lead to near equal clinics seeing as white females could hardly afford medical care and had to definitely downgrade whereas the black females were far more exposed to this way of life already. The Mexican Reparation that occurred in the 1930s was a large event for many people as over two million people were deported and sent back over to Mexico. This was due to the fact that many people believed, which, granted, is still very much believed, that the Mexican people coming into the nation were simply taking the low income jobs of Americans. So for that, they attempted to rid themselves of as many people as possible. In California alone, approximately 400,000 U.S. citizens and legal residents were forced south of the border. 4
Because Mexicans werent seen as much of anything but second-hand Americans, they were easily considered scapegoats and were paid cheaply for the jobs that they did from farming to mining to railroad construction. But with unemployment at around two and a half million people, John R. Quinn, Supervisor from the Fourth District of Los Angeles, propositioned ridding the country of the same amount of illegal aliens from the country to help better the country. Unfortunately for many of the people whom were deported during this time, about sixty percent of those peopleabout 1.2 million were actually born within the United States, indicating the fact that they were indeed American citizens but because of the deportation, they were denied their constitutional rights. 5 And unknowingly, many of the people who searched desperately for a better life crossed the borderthey were all citizens of the states they believed they were illegally coming into. Its extremely significant seeing how difficult blacks and Mexicans had it upon living in the United States all due to their race. No true equality, no respect. They were always looked down upon and it seemed as if in the beginning of it all, getting rid of them wouldve been better for the nation. Seeing as African Americans are indeed just thatAmericans, they shouldve been granted more respect, more liberty and equality to live wherever they so much desired but that was never given to them during the Great Depression. Both of these ethical backgrounds worked long and hard to be paid nearly nothing but they continued with their heads as high as they could muster for the wellbeing of their families.
3 Cheryl Greenberg, Mean Streets: Black Harlem in the Great Depression, in Or Does it Explode?, ed. Cherly Greenberg (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997), pg. 221 4 Mexican Reparation: History, last modified April 13, 2014, http://public.csusm.edu/frame004/history.html. 5 Mexican Reparation: History, last modified April 13, 2014, http://public.csusm.edu/frame004/history2.html.
Ilse Medina
When the New Deal came into play thanks to Franklin D. Roosevelt, things mildly started looking up. After his Inaugural Address in 1933, Roosevelt was quick to promise the immediate action to bring the country back on its feet and, thankfully, he delivered. Within his first hundred days within his presidency, Franklin D. Roosevelt was quick to address what his new Deal was all about that would help pull the country out of its misery. This deal that Franklin D. Roosevelt had in mind focused on the three Rs. These three Rs happened to be: Relief, reform, and recovery. 6
To start the first R of his three, Franklin began with the repeal of the eighteenth amendment which managed to end the prohibition of alcohol after thirteen long consecutive years. Alongside of that, Franklin made sure to make new regulations for the Stock Market. To add onto the list of things this president did for the nation, he also created new federal agencies and programs that were decided to put people back to work. This, overall, was a success. The second R in the plan-- Reform was in the hands of Franklin as he attempted to regulate to prevent from any form of corruption that could possibly ruin the dynamic of the economic growth. This program managed to change the relationship between the people, the capitalist market and the government which helped create, for the first time ever within our nation, an activist state that was committed to creating a measure of security with every individual citizen against the unpredictable things that came with the market. People still debate on whether this was good or bad for the nation but theres no doubt that Franklin D. Roosevelt made a huge impact on the way our lives in this nation currently stand. The third R within the plan was recovery. The New Deal failed to pull the nation out of the Great Depression. The unemployment rate still remained at an all-time high and the economy was moving painfully slow. It wasnt until the production of guns was it that truly got the economy going for America. It was as if Adolf Hitler seemed to do more for the economy than the New Deal/Franklin Roosevelt did to help pull it out of the Great Depression. 7
Franklin Roosevelt truly did change the way people saw America forever. The New Deal plan may have had not been as efficient as he or many Americans had hoped for but he did create a foundation of what it meant to be an American. Roosevelt easily set the expectations for what people were to be expecting out of not only the president but the government as well. That was quite significant in our history which pinpoints the mere fact that this program was important and why it should still be remembered to this day given Roosevelt brought hope to the Americans. Hope that they hardly managed to see throughout the decade of the Depression that was truthfully very much needed.
6 David E. Shi and Holly A. Mayer, New Deal America, in For the Record:A documentary history of America, ed. David E. Shi and Holly A. Mayer (New York; W.W. Norton and Company, 2013,2010,2007,2004,1999), pgs 201-202. 7 FDRs New Deal Summary, last mod April 13,2014, http://www.shmoop.com/fdr-new-deal/summary.html
Ilse Medina
So what did it mean to be an American during the Great Depression and the New Deal plan? In the beginning and practically all throughout the Great Depression, times were filled with uncertainty that no one could ever reassure them with. Times were difficult, struggling was apart of the norm, but people still carried on hoping for a better tomorrow. People still continued to work when they could and at whatever cost to get their families through. They had heart and determination to move forward and not back. Being an American at this point of time meant being strong when there was no assurance that you or your family would ever be okay. Being an American meant doing what you needed to do, not only for your family but for your country to pull them out of the slump. And, thankfully, everything worked out in their favor once the economy started rolling with World War II commencing. Being an American meant being a fighter. And thats what those people in the 1930s were. Fighters. Bibliography (n.d.). Frame, C. S. (2009). Mexican Reparation: History. Retrieved April 13, 2014, from Mexican Reparation: A Generation Between Two Borders: http://public.csusm.edu/frame004/history2.html. Frame, C. S. (2009). Mexican Reparation: History. Retrieved Aprile 13, 2014, from Mexican Reparation: A Generation Between Two Borders: http://public.csusm.edu/frame004/history.html#_ftn1 Greenberg, C. (1997). Mean Streets: Black Harlem in the Great Depression. In C. Greenberg, Or Does it Explode? (p. 221). Oxford: Oxford Univerisity Press. Greenberg, C. (1997). Mean Streets: Black Harlem in the Great Depression. In C. Greenberg, Does it Explode? (p. 216). Oxford: Oxford University Press. Shi, D. E. (2013,2010,2007,2004,1999). New Deal America. In D. E. Shi, For the Record: A documentation of History (pp. 201-202). New York: W.W. Norton and Company. Team, S. E. (2008, November 11). FDR's New Deal Summary & Analysis. Retrieved April 13, 2014, from Schmoop: http://www.shmoop.com/fdr-new-deal/summary.html Team., S. E. (2008, November 11). "The Great Depression: People". Retrieved April 13, 2013, from Schmoop: http://www.shmoop.com/great-depression