When affirmative action was white

When affirmative action was white  The New Deal  GI Bill

When affirmative action was white  The New Deal  GI Bill

When affirmative action was white  World War II revived the American economy.  The racial gap increased substantially.  Government programs lifted thousands of whites

into the ranks of the middle class, while denying nonwhites this advantage.

The New Deal  The New Deal  Responding to the Great Depression, President Franklin D. Roosevelt initiated several programs dealing with welfare, work and war designed to help lift Americans. Unemployment insurance  The minimum wage  Workday limitations  Veteran assistance 

Why were nonwhites denied the benefits of the New Deal?  The role of Southern Democrats  Southern Democrats in the House and Senate would back New Deal policies only if they did not threaten the racial hierarchy of the South.  Northern Democrats gave in, barring nonwhites access to social spending programs.

How were nonwhites denied the benefits of the New Deal?  The Social Security Act of 1935 was designed to

discriminate. 

certain jobs, those dominated by nonwhite workers, were disqualified Farmworkers did not qualify  40% of Southern agricultural workers during the 1930s were black men.  Maids did not qualify  A profession dominated by black women  65% of blacks nationwide and up to 80% of blacks in some parts of the South could not take advantage of the benefits offered by the Social Security Act. 

What benefits were denied nonwhites? 

The New Deal provided working and wage regulations mandated a standardized minimum wage  imposed work hour limitations  provided a climate in which unions could flourish 



farmworkers, maids, and other nonwhite jobs were excluded from the benefits.

When affirmative action was white  The New Deal  GI Bill

The GI Bill  The GI Bill of Rights (The Selective Service

Readjustment Act) 





The GI Bill, more than any other program, forged the American middle class The single most comprehensive set of social benefits ever issued by the federal government under a unified initiative In the three decades that followed the war, the United States spent more than $95 billion on the bill.

Why couldn’t nonwhite men benefit from the GI Bill? 

Why couldn’t nonwhite men benefit from the GI Bill?

 Many nonwhite men were denied entry into the

military strictly on the basis of their race. 

It was only during the final throes of the war that it began admitting nonwhites into its ranks in substantial numbers.

What were the benefits of the GI Bill?  Using the GI Bill, millions of veterans  bought homes 



went to college 

   

In the decade that followed the war, over 13 million new homes were erected, nearly 40% of which were funded by veteran mortgages. College enrollment nearly triples from the beginning of the war to the 1950s.

got by on unemployment insurance financed small businesses bought farmland received job assistance

Why couldn’t nonwhite men benefit from the GI Bill?  The drafters of the GI Bill left the administration of

the bill up to state and local authorities 

The distribution of veteran benefits was left in the hands of local veteran affairs offices, private banks, or universities. loans  job placement  unemployment assistance  college tuition aid  vocational training 

Why couldn’t nonwhite men benefit from the GI Bill?  banks  Many banks made it a policy to deny black and Latino veterans loans to start up small businesses and home mortgages  colleges  Major colleges and universities barred black veterans from entry  job assistance  Nonwhite veterans who applied for job assistance were channeled into the menial and unskilled professions 

For example, of the jobs filled by Mississippi veterans by 1946, 86% of skilled and semiskilled posts were taken by whites, while 92% of the unskilled jobs were staffed by blacks.

When affirmative action was white  The New Deal  GI Bill