In what ways were the lives of African Americans impacted by the 1930s Depression?

In 1929, African Americans were already “on the lowest rung of the ladder” – poor, segregated, and confined to low-paying, menial jobs, particularly in the South, where 96% of Black workers were unskilled; as one Black American noted: "The Negro was born in depression." Even before 1929, wages for African Americans were only three-quarters of what white workers earned, and many Black families lived in poverty despite having someone employed – some African Americans, interviewed later, felt that this made them better-equipped to cope with the Depression. 

The Great Depression hit African Americans economically.  Because they were situated in poor, Black neighbourhoods, a disproportionate number of Black banks and businesses failed, further impoverishing the local Black community.  Discriminatory hiring practices, summed up by the phrase ‘last hired, first fired’, meant that Black workers were routinely the first to lose their jobs; Unions called for African Americans to be fired from any jobs as long as there were whites out of work, and employers sacked their Black workers to move unemployed whites into ‘black jobs’.  In some cities, the unemployment rate for Black workers reached as high as 70%, and those who kept their jobs found their wages slashed.  In the South, tenant farmers and sharecroppers were also hit hard – as agricultural prices fell, 100,000 Black sharecroppers were forced off the land, leading to widespread poverty and displacement.  And Black women were hardest hit of all, facing unemployment rates up to four times higher than white women (many Black women worked as maids, and found themselves laid off because their white employer was no longer able afford a maid or nanny in their homes).  Since far more Black women went out to work than white women, the loss of women’s jobs impacted on the Black community to a far greater extent than on the white. 

The Depression created increased discrimination and hatreds which made the Black Americans' economic suffering incrementally worse.  Racial violence, which had been declining, surged during the Depression, with lynchings increasing from eight in 1932 to 28 in 1933.  The infamous Scottsboro case of 1931 highlighted the racial injustice of all-white juries, when nine Black boys who had been ‘riding the rails’ were wrongfully convicted of rape.  Black activists faced severe penalties: when Angelo Herndon organised an unemployment protest in Atlanta in 1932, he was sentenced to 18 years on a chain gang, and Black Communist Ned Cobb served 13 years in prison for leading a sharecropper group trying to prevent the local sheriff seizing a man’s property.  In addition, African Americans faced everyday discrimination in housing, where landlords exploited the situation by charging higher rents. 

Thus the individual suffering for African Americans caused by the Great Depression was massive.  African American families, who usually had less savings to fall back on, saw their situation worsen even more than that of white Americans; the government in 1930 estimated that 17% of the white population but 38% of the black population could not support themselves without assistance.  With half of the Black population out of work and wages slashed for those still employed, the stresses of even basic survival were extreme. 

Despite these hardships, African Americans were heroic in their efforts to cope and survive.  In urban areas like Harlem, communities banded together, sharing accommodation, clothes, food and, in extremis, ‘hot bedding’.  ‘Rent parties’ became a common way to raise money for rent.  Black churches expanded their welfare services, offering food, clothing, and shelter to those in need.  New religious movements, such as the Nation of Islam and Father Divine’s Kingdom of Peace Movement, gained followers by providing not only spiritual guidance but also free meals and housing.  Harlem had more than 2,000 social, political and mutual aid societies – with time for fun, too, as Harlem had a lively social scene.  Afterwards, many Black Americans felt that they had coped with the Depression quite well ...  perhaps they were less positive at the time.

The Depression also spurred activism and protest among African Americans.  There were ‘Don’t Buy Where You Can’t Work’ boycotts against stores that refused to hire Black workers, notably in Chicago (where it resulted in the employment of 2,000 African Americans).  Union activism also increased, with organizations like the Sharecroppers Union and the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters organising strikes and advocating for better wages and working conditions.  As African Americans realised that the system was rigged against them, the Communist Party growing rapidly (particularly in Harlem) and the ‘Peace Movement of Ethiopia’, organized in 1932 in Chicago, advocated a back-to-Africa campaign.