e of the first racial hiring quota systems was introduced into government. Secretary of Interior Harold Ickes directed the hiring of black workers on PWA projects in proportion to their presence in the local workforce. Other milestones occurred. In 1937 President Roosevelt appointed NAACP attorney William Hastie as the first black federal judge in American history. Two years later, in 1939, President Roosevelt’s Attorney General Frank Murphy established the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Section.
The Civilian Conservation Corps, created in 1933 to work on public projects, expanded the number of black workers from 6 percent in 1936 to 11 percent by 1939. Photography sessions of President Roosevelt with black leaders began to occur, and civil rights delegations visited the White House. Still, racial discrimination was widespread in New Deal programs. The rise of black ghettos was in part a result of New Deal public housing policies that did not go far enough to help blacks.
Activism within the Black Community
Organization within the U.S. black community itself increased. In 1936 Ralph Bunche and John Davis formed the National Negro Congress (NNC). The organization brought together all existing black political groups to press for economic recovery. Representatives of nearly six hundred participating organizations elected A. Philip Randolph its first president.
In 1937 the Carnegie Corporation hired Swedish economist Gunnar Myrdal to study race relations in the United States. A number of scholars assisted in the study. In reporting his findings, Myrdal wrote the influential 1944 publication An American Dilemma: The Negro Problem and Modern Democracy. The problem, as Myrdal concluded, was not the natural capabilities of black Americans. The problem was white racism and policies promoting racial inequality.
Blacks and the Arts
Some WPA programs not only provided employment to black Americans, but promoted social justice as well. The Federal Theater Project introduced new ideas to America, including racial equality. Blacks were portrayed as highly capable, equal human beings. Sixteen black theater groups were established around the country. Though casts remained racially segregated, the characters in the plays were not. A major milestone came when a black production of a Shakespearean classic, Macbeth, appeared in Harlem. Young Orson Welles directed the play. It was set in Haiti with Voodoo priestesses serving as the play’s witch characters. The play proved a major success.
Other WPA programs also promoted black achievements. The Federal Music Project staged concerts involving works of black composers. The Federal Art Project employed hundreds of black artists. The WPA taught almost 250,000 blacks how to read and write.
The Federal Writers Project provided opportunities and early training for young black writers and scholars. Zora Neale Hurston wrote the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, first published in 1937. The novel focuses on a proud, independent black woman’s search for identity while experiencing three marriages and a search for her roots. Richard Wright, born on a Mississippi plantation, won a WPA writing prize in 1938 with Uncle Tom’s Children, a collection of short stories of black life in the South. In 1940 he published Native Son, a story about blacks migrating to northern cities and the racism they faced. The book passed John Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath on the best sellers list. Another black author, William Attaway, in 1941 published Blood on the Forge, a book about the lives and hardships of black workers.
Because the theater and writing projects promoted interracial understanding, they attracted strong resistance from white supremacists. The programs came under investigation of the U.S. House of Representatives’ Un-American Activities Committee. The Committee charged the programs with conspiracy to subvert American ideas and beliefs.
Some gains for black Americans occurred under New Deal programs, more so in the late 1930s. They not only provided economic relief to many blacks, but also increased the over