To Ask for an Equal Chance: African Americans in the Great Depression (African American History Series)

201 Pages·2009·1.25 MB·English

by  Cheryl Lynn Greenberg

To Ask for an Equal Chance
The African American History Series
Series Editors:
Jacqueline M. Moore, Austin College
Nina Mjagkij, Ball State University
Traditionally, history books tend to fall into two categories: books academics write for
each other, and books written for popular audiences. Historians often claim that many of
the popular authors do not have the proper training to interpret and evaluate the histor-
ical evidence. Yet, popular audiences complain that most historical monographs are inac-
cessible because they are too narrow in scope or lack an engaging style. This series, which
will take both chronological and thematic approaches to topics and individuals crucial to
an understanding of the African American experience, is an attempt to address that prob-
lem. The books in this series, written in lively prose by established scholars, are aimed pri-
marily at nonspecialists. They focus on topics in African American history that have
broad significance and place them in their historical context. While presenting sophisti-
cated interpretations based on primary sources and the latest scholarship, the authors tell
their stories in a succinct manner, avoiding jargon and obscure language. They include se-
lected documents that allow readers to judge the evidence for themselves and to evaluate
the authors’ conclusions. Bridging the gap between popular and academic history, these
books bring the African American story to life.
Volumes Published
Booker T. Washington, W. E. B. Du Bois, and the Struggle for Racial Uplift
Jacqueline M. Moore
Slavery in Colonial America, 1619–1776
Betty Wood
African Americans in the Jazz Age
A Decade of Struggle and Promise
Mark Robert Schneider
A. Philip Randolph
A Life in the Vanguard
Andrew E. Kersten
The African American Experience in Vietnam
Brothers in Arms
James Westheider
Bayard Rustin
American Dreamer
Jerald Podair
African Americans Confront Lynching
Strategies of Resistance
Christopher Waldrep
Lift Every Voice
The History of African-American Music
Burton W. Peretti
To Ask for an Equal Chance
African Americans in the Great Depression
Cheryl Lynn Greenberg
To Ask for an Equal Chance
African Americans in the Great Depression
Cheryl Lynn Greenberg
ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERS, INC.
Lanham • Boulder • New York • Toronto • Plymouth, UK
ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERS, INC.
Published in the United States of America
by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
A wholly owned subsidiary of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.
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Copyright© 2009 Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise,
without the prior permission of the publisher.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:
Greenberg, Cheryl Lynn.
To ask for an equal chance : African Americans in the Great Depression / Cheryl Lynn
Greenberg.
p. cm. — (The African American history series)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-7425-5188-6 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-1-4422-0051-7 (electronic)
1. African Americans—History—1877–1964. 2. Depressions—1929—United States.
I. Title.
E185.6.G79 2009
305.89607309'04—dc22 2009010040
Printed in the United States of America
(cid:2)™
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American
National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library
Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.
For my students, who continue to inspire me
Seeking no favor because of our color, nor patronage because of our
needs, we knock at the bar of justice, and ask for an equal chance.
—Mary Church Terrell
(cid:2)
Contents
Chronology ix
Chapter 1 No Strangers to Hardship: Black Life before
the Crash 1
Chapter 2 Last Hired, First Fired: Working through the
Great Depression 21
Chapter 3 Of New Deals and Raw Deals 43
Chapter 4 “Let Us Build”: Political Organizing in the
Depression Era 65
Chapter 5 Weary Blues: Black Communities and Black Culture 89
Epilogue: “Should I Sacrifice to Live
‘Half American’?” 111
Documents 123
Bibliography 171
Index 177
About the Author 187
vii

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Chronology
1928 Oscar DePriest elected to House of Representatives from Chicago
1929 Stock market crash
Charles Hamilton Houston becomes Vice-Dean of Howard University
Law School
First “Don’t Buy Where You Can’t Work” campaigns
1930 Jessie Daniel Ames organizes Association of Southern Women for the
Prevention of Lynching
W. D. Fard founds Nation of Islam in Detroit
Communist Party organizes Unemployed Councils
“Atlanta Six” arrested under slave statute against inciting insurrection
for organizing protest
1931 “Scottsboro boys” accused
Alabama Sharecroppers’ Union organized
1932 Powell v. Alabama (without adequate counsel accused cannot receive
fair trial)
Nixon v. Condon (no group granted power by the state—in this case
the Republican Party—may discriminate on the basis of race
regarding public elections)
Organizer Angelo Herndon arrested for insurrection
Don West, Myles Horton establish Highlander Folk School,
Monteagle, Tennessee
Franklin Delano Roosevelt elected president
ix