y frightened by frequent murders. No one could guarantee their safety, and whites still had the right to lynch blacks. At that time, about the only place that might believe the blacks’ stories of racial injustice was in the Federal Courts. In many instances, even skilled black workers were not used for projects where their talents could have been helpful. Another problem facing black workers was the enormous number of unemployed and unskilled black laborers. Officials in the TVA would generally pick a white skilled worker or a white unskilled worker over a black skilled worker. Moreover, an extremely low percentage of blacks had any opportunity to be trained in their respective fields. The pay for any black worker was low but the payment for unskilled black workers, who were almost never in demand, was well below the minimum wage at that time. The reasons that the TVA gave for not hiring blacks and their reasons for feeling discriminated against were stated in a black journal in April 1934:For example, TVA authorities did not, and still do not, plan to use any Negro labor on the building of the Norris Dam itself. They claim that building separate dormitories and accommodations for the few Negro laborers representing the small Negro population around Norris would be so expensive as to materially advance the price of electric power to be sold by the TVA and would thereby prevent the providing of a true ‘yardstick’ to be used on public utilities throughout the nation…The Negro as desperately as he needs training, is to be absolutely excluded. He can not even live on the outskirts of the town in his customary hovel. This is a bitter blow to Negro leadership.16 FDR attempted to bring the modern society of the big cities into the rural parts of the country with the creation of the Civilian Conservation Corps. It became one of the most enduring and popular work-relief programs, lasting until the 1940’s. ...
