To what extent was the federal government the most important factor in

improving the status of black Americans, 1914-45?

The status of black African Americans improved dramatically in both the war and
interwar years in 1914-1945. The role of the federal government is however
often exaggerated whilst the impact events and individuals are overlooked. In
order to ascertain the full impact of the federal government, individuals and
events in the time period, we must define status into clear categories; economic,
political and attitudinal status. This essay shall argue that it was events such as
WW1, WW2 and the New Deal that lead to a great indirect improvement in the
economic status of African Americans and the awakening of African American
activism in challenging stereotypes. So much so that it outweighed the indirect
positive attitudinal and political change and negative social change in the status
of African Americans that the federal government was responsible for.
The federal government did have a role in causing a somewhat tenuous indirect
change in the political, economic and attitudinal status of black Americans. For
example, when the war broke out in 1914 the federal government sought to take
over several industries that were interrupted by the war one being the
chemical industry in Germany. This led to a massive expansion in the
manufacturing industry thus leading to an increase in the demand for labour
which was met by the 500,000 African Americans moving into the northern cities.
This led to not only an increase in the living standards of the African Americans
but also improvements in their political status as they now could vote in the
northern cities they had moved to. This change in economic and political status
was rather quick and positive however it also catalysed a more lasting negative
attitudinal change. As more and more African Americans moved into the northern
cities, the already present white population began to feel discomforted and soon
lashed out in the form of race riots. The Chicago race riots in July 1919 is an
example of this deep attitudinal negativity as the white soldiers returned to see
their black counterparts working in their place, causing tensions to rise. The
backstory of a black child crossing into a white only beach was merely the spark
that caused wider conflict. This deep attitudinal negativity continues on into the
1920s where the KKK had a membership of 2.5 million most likely aided by the
laissez faire policy of the democrat led federal government in the 20s. The
economic and political changes in status in the 20s also were dismal, whilst the
20s were the time of high growth in wages however African American wages in
the 20s fell by $200 with many losing their jobs as their white counterparts had
returned from work. This caused wealth deprivation but also created ghettos in
Harlem with one African American commentator stating that the reason the
depression didnt have the impact on the Negro that it had on whites was that
the Negros had been in depression all the time. This of course is not a
homogenous experience and there were a large amount who did experience the
20s to be an era of economic positivist. Politically women also experienced some
change as women were given the vote in 1926 and so in the northern states
African American women were now boosted in terms of political status however
southern African American women were still unable to vote due to educational
barriers and so the political change was more of a heterogeneous experience.
The 30s then returned to attitudinal negative change but somewhat positive

economic change as the federal government. This is as the Wall Street crash and
great depression occurred, the federal government took action to improve the
economy. For example, the New Deal under Franklin Roosevelt. This was hailed
as the start of Keynesian economics, redefining state and citizen relations. In
practice however the new deal and its agencies were highly discriminatory and
whilst they did improve the economic status of African Americans, they did not
prevent the severe miscarriages of justice such as the fact lynching was still not
considered a crime. The main reason as to why the federal government had an
important role in benefiting the economic and political status of African
Americans in a large way fairly quickly however it also had a large role in
positioning the white population against the African Americans attitudinally. The
reason why it is the most or only important factor is that the federal government
did not in this time actively seek to benefit African Americans and instead these
benefits were often as a ripple effect of a larger solution to help the whites that
were affected by a extra-governmental situation.
Events however are the larger situations that were the most important factor in
raising the economic, political and attitudinal status of African Americans. For
example, the lead up to WW1 and during WW1 caused a huge demand in the
production of arms and goods that were hit by European affairs e.g. German
chemical products thus causing a higher demand for labour, causing African
Americans to move northwards for jobs which benefited their political and
economic status as they could now vote and had greater economic
independence. Attitudinally whilst the federal government encouraging migration
to fill labour shortages caused long term tense race relations, in the short term
the First World War did cause several black war heroes such as the Harlem Hell
fighters. They were applauded as war heroes by some however they did face
some racist heckling and abuse and so the improvement in their social status
was fairly minute and not representative of the entire black American population.
The roaring twenties and great depression also caused rapid economic change in
the status of black Americans as it caused a negative impact in the 20s and a
positive impact in the 30s as a result of the new deal. This then continued into
the Second World War where production in arms and industries such as
chemicals increased, causing more demand for labour and thus giving the
general African American population greater economic status. These events
however give very little in terms of political status except for opportunity they
gave to black soldiers that they could see their black counterparts in Europe
being treated as equals to their white counterparts. This lead the African
American soldiers to be reborn as the theory of the new Negro took hold in
areas such as Harlem. Attitudinally, the status was more balanced as whilst the
African Americans were still considered second class they now did fight back as
is seen in the Chicago race riots when there were killings of white people with
black Americans taking responsibility. This caused a foundational change in the
core of the ghettos in the cities resulting in wider unity and in some sense wider
collective security. Therefore whilst the various major events between 1914 and
1945 did not aim in any way to cause status change to anyone however it did set
up the parameters for which the federal government and individuals could act
within in order to benefit African Americans indirectly.

To conclude, the period 1914-45 did rapidly change the political and economic
status of African Americans in a positive way however it did also cause even
faster and longer term negative attitudinal status change. Furthermore, these
changes whilst somewhat caused by the federal government were not intentional
nor even proactively taken instead the policies that caused these
aforementioned changes in status between 1914-45 were in reaction to the
events happening at the time, most notably WW1, the roaring twenties and great
depression and WW2. Therefore this essay must conclude that the federal
government is important to a large extent however the events are of more
importance as they gave the federal government a scenario to react to in order
to benefit the lives of African Americans.

Federal government Directly

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Indirectly