In James Lesesne Wells’s, “The Negro Worker” (1938), a black man appears to be leaving a factory. During the 1930s, the Great Depression took a toll on both the American and international economy. Among those harmed the most during the great depression were minorities and the poor. Minnie Hardin describes the conditions of the poor during this time:
“You people who have plenty of this worlds goods and whose money comes easy, have no idea of the heart-breaking toil and self-denial which is the lot of the working people who are trying to make an honest living, and then to have to shoulder all these unjust burdens seems like the last straw.” (185)
She blames the issues of the depression on the politicians, who she says are self-serving, greedy, and crooked. Like the poor, black suffered higher economic consequences during the depression. Blacks had higher incidences of unemployment and public relief, as well as higher levels of displacement than whites. The New Deal did little to ease the large employment gap that already existed for blacks prior to the onset of the Depression. Discrimination in hiring also made it increasingly difficult for blacks and other minorities to find work. Wells’s lithograph leaves the viewer wondering how many other blacks and poor were not as fortunate to have work during this time.
Works Cited
James Lesesne Wells
Hardin Minnie. “Letter to Elanor Roosevelt” (1938) Reading the American Past. P 183-185.
Sundstrom, William. “Last Hired, First Fired? Unemployment and Urban Black Workers During the Great Depression”. The Journal of Economic History, Vol. 52, No. 2 (Jun., 1992), pp. 415-429.
“You people who have plenty of this worlds goods and whose money comes easy, have no idea of the heart-breaking toil and self-denial which is the lot of the working people who are trying to make an honest living, and then to have to shoulder all these unjust burdens seems like the last straw.” (185)
She blames the issues of the depression on the politicians, who she says are self-serving, greedy, and crooked. Like the poor, black suffered higher economic consequences during the depression. Blacks had higher incidences of unemployment and public relief, as well as higher levels of displacement than whites. The New Deal did little to ease the large employment gap that already existed for blacks prior to the onset of the Depression. Discrimination in hiring also made it increasingly difficult for blacks and other minorities to find work. Wells’s lithograph leaves the viewer wondering how many other blacks and poor were not as fortunate to have work during this time.
Works Cited
James Lesesne Wells
Hardin Minnie. “Letter to Elanor Roosevelt” (1938) Reading the American Past. P 183-185.
Sundstrom, William. “Last Hired, First Fired? Unemployment and Urban Black Workers During the Great Depression”. The Journal of Economic History, Vol. 52, No. 2 (Jun., 1992), pp. 415-429.