s (UN). As chairwoman of the Commission on Human Rights she was instrumental in drafting the historic UN Declaration of Human Rights.
Support from the Left and Labor
Communists, socialists, and major labor organizations joined the push for racial equality. The Communist Party eagerly took up the black cause in the United States. Aggressive public efforts by the party served to substantially increase public awareness of black issues. The Communists staged demonstrations and took legal actions. The party also worked on a day-to-day basis supporting activities aimed at combating hunger and unemployment. However, a proportionally small number of blacks ever actually joined the party.
The Socialist Party through the United Colored Socialists of America also took up black interests. They aggressively challenged racial discrimination in labor unions. The Socialist Party also lobbied for anti-lynching laws and equal voting rights. In the South they organized sharecroppers unions, including the Southern Tenant Farmers Union.
In 1935 the Committee for Industrial Organization formed within the American Federation of Labor (AFL). Under leadership of John L. Lewis the CIO represented mass production industries that employed many black American workers. The AFL focused more on skilled workers. Unlike the AFL the CIO recruited blacks to its membership. Lewis also headed the United Mine Workers of America, which recruited both whites and blacks. Other influential organizations became members of the CIO, including the United Automobile Workers (UAW). Black representatives attained leadership roles in these unions. Thanks to CIO efforts eventually the AFL opened its membership to blacks as well. By 1939 blacks were well accepted in labor unions. Through the 1930s the CIO was one of the most important supporters of civil rights.
Riot in Harlem
The only race riot to occur during the Great Depression erupted in New York’s Harlem on March 19, 1935. On that day a rumor began quickly spreading that police had brutally beaten a black Puerto Rican youth suspected of stealing a knife from a store. Although in actuality the youth was released unharmed, violence erupted. Store windows were smashed and stores looted through the night. Three people were killed and one hundred injured. Considerable property damage resulted to about 250 shops. The incident alerted President Roosevelt to the increasing explosive nature of race relations in the North as well as the South.
The New Deal Reaches Out
By early 1935 President Roosevelt began to take more direct action in black issues. In May 1935 he issued Executive Order 7046 prohibiting discrimination in the newly created Works Progress Administration (WPA). Within a few short years after President Roosevelt’s order between 15 and 20 percent of WPA workers, or about 230,000, were black. Their inclusion enabled many blacks to economically survive the Depression. Reflecting the low economic status of black Americans, the minimum wage of WPA—set at $12 a week—was twice the amount many had previously earned. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) proved less responsive, largely due to its greater reliance on local implementation. Only about 250,000 black American men (7 percent) served in the CCC through the decade. Some areas would not select blacks for CCC work positions at all. In Georgia where 36 percent of the population was black, less than 2 percent of the CCC enrollment was black.
Sensitive to the criticism that his farm policies were harmful to the small farmer, Roosevelt created the Resettlement Administration (RA) in 1935. Roosevelt named Will Alexander, who had focused on black poverty issues throughout his career, to lead the agency. For the rural poor, the agency sought to end sharecropping, tenant farming, and migratory labor, and to promote land ownership. One of the RA’s initial goals was to resettle 500,000 farm families onto their own productive lands. The program attracted considerable opposition from existing white landowners who relied on such cheap labor. As a result the agency fell short wi