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 overall quality of life. Life expectancy at birth of black Americans increased through the 1930s. For black women it increased from 49 to 55 years of age (compared to 63 to 67 for white women) and from 47 to 52 for black men (compared to 60 to 62 for white men). Black illiteracy dropped during the decade from over 16 percent to 11.5 percent by 1940.
Much was left to later generations to correct. With resurgence of political conservatism in 1938, President Roosevelt had little inclination to push the black cause further. As the economy began to improve in 1940 and 1941, black Americans were the last to get off of relief programs. Jobs opened sooner for whites.
The arrival of World War II opened up many new economic opportunities for white Americans, and eventually for blacks as well. Defense-related industries expanded, leading many more blacks to move from the rural South to northern cities. Yet in 1940 less than 2 percent of workers in the growing aircraft industry were black. One company even stated that blacks would only be considered for janitorial jobs. Such discrimination was promoted by craft unions such as the International Association of Machinists. Black women faced even greater discrimination. They were relegated to domestic service jobs. A. Philip Randolph of the Brotherhood Car Porters and head of the NNC threatened to lead a march on Washington, DC in 1941 to protest job discrimination. On June 25, 1941, President Roosevelt, wishing to forestall the march, issued an executive order prohibiting discrimination in defense industries and creating the President’s Committee on Fair Employment Practices (FEPC). This order was the first proclamation of its kind since Reconstruction of the 1870s. The FEPC was given the responsibility to hold public hearings when complaints arose concerning business hiring practices and to propose new public policies. However, since FEPC had no enforcement powers and little budget or staff, neither business leaders nor even many government officials took it very seriously. Even R