The Black Man during the Great Depression: Waiting for an America that Will Never Come
While the face of the American economic downturn is the unemployed white man in the soup bank line, the real victims of the Great Depression are the American Negroes. Low-level jobs traditionally held by Negro men are now being filled by white immigrants. 60% of Negroes are without work and reliant on the white man's so-called "relief." Detroit was especially hard hit by a decrease in war production and demand. At the Ford Rouge plant alone, 60,000 Negroes were fired.
Rather than relying on this so-called "New Deal" pushed by President Roosevelt, that was supposed to relieve the misery of the people, it has only widened the gap between white and black Americans. American Negroes have been and will continue to be left behind by the American populace, the politicians, and all who hold power in this country. The only option left is to start where we began: Back to Africa!
Scores of Negro families wait in the "Welfare" line in Harlem