The New Deal Affects Many Groups Reading Garcia N Period 2.pdf

The New Deal Affects Many Groups
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WOMEN MAKE THEIR MARK One of the most notable changes during the New Deal was the naming of several women to important
government positions. Frances Perkins became America’s first female cabinet member. As secretary of labor, she played a major role
in creating the Social Security system and supervised labor legislation. President Roosevelt, encouraged by his wife Eleanor and
seeking the support of women voters, also appointed two female diplomats and a female federal judge. However, women continued to
face discrimination in the workplace from male workers who believed that working women took jobs away from men. A Gallup poll
taken in 1936 reported that 82 percent of Americans said that a wife should not work if her husband had a job. Additionally, New Deal
laws yielded mixed results. The National Recovery Administration, for example, set wage codes, some of which set lower minimum
wages for women. The Federal Emergency Relief Administration and the Civil Works Administration hired far fewer women than men,
and the Civilian Conservation Corps hired only men. In spite of these barriers, women continued their movement into the workplace.
Although the overall percentage of women working for wages increased only slightly during the 1930s, the percentage of married
women in the workplace grew from 11.7 percent in 1930 to 15.6 percent in 1940. In short, widespread criticism of working women did
not halt the long-term trend of women working outside the home.
AFRICAN AMERICANS TAKE LEADERSHIP ROLES During the New Deal, Roosevelt appointed more than 100 African Americans to
key positions in the government. Mary McLeod Bethune — an educator who dedicated herself to promoting opportunities for young
African Americans — was one such appointee. Hired by the president to head the Division of Negro Affairs of the National Youth
Administration, Bethune worked to ensure that the NYA hired African-American administrators and provided job training and other
benefits to minority students. Bethune also helped organize a “Black Cabinet” of influential African Americans to advise the Roosevelt
administration on racial issues. Among these figures were William H. Hastie and Robert C. Weaver, both appointees to Roosevelt’s
Department of Interior. Never before had so many African Americans had a voice in the White House. Eleanor Roosevelt played a key
role in opening doors for African Americans in government. She was also instrumental in bringing about one of the most dramatic
cultural events of the period: a performance by the African-American singer Marian Anderson in 1939. When the Daughters of the
American Revolution chose not to allow Anderson to perform in their concert hall in Washington, D.C., because of her race, Eleanor
Roosevelt resigned from the organization. She then arranged for Anderson to perform at the Lincoln Memorial on Easter Sunday.