e economic and racial fairness in the delivery of relief. Instead, most early New Deal programs specifically sanctioned discrimination against African-Americans. Furthermore, political fortitude to enact civil rights legislation and put an end to racial discrimination did not exist during the New Deal era. Just prior to the New Deal, unemployment steadily rose, while the Hoover administration paid little attention to the plight of the jobless and poor. President Hoover ran for re-election and tried to assure the voters with the slogan, “prosperity is just around the corner.” However, the following unemployment figures, published by the Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History, indicated significant national unemployment, particularly for African-Americans:According to the 1930 census, 37 percent of working African-Americans were employed as agricultural laborers and 29 percent as personal-service and domestic workers. Only 2 percent were classified as professionals (lawyers, doctors, teachers and clergy)…Unemployment increased rapidly in the early 1930’s. It was thought that approximately 15 percent of the workforce were unemployed in 1930. African-American organizations estimated that the percentage of unemployed black workers was at least twice the rate of the country as a whole.3 A president who pledged to put the nation back together was what America yearned for. FDR appealed to the masses because he adamantly assured all Americans that he would do everything he could to reform the nation. This same view was stated in the following passage from the Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History: President Roosevelt assumed office in 1932 with the promise to turn the economy around and to put American’s back to work. Most Americans, particularly impoverished African-Americans, viewed FDR’s election with optimism, a newfound hope, and the expectation of a better life....
