The Effects of the Great Depression on African-American Families

Following the Impact of the Great Depression

Following the collapse of the stock market in 1929, the United States entered a phase of the Great Depression that significantly shaped its modern history (Kennedy, 12). Every sector in the economy from education, manufacturing, finance, to agriculture and housing, were adversely affected, and that left many Americans without meaningful employment (Kennedy, 12). Despite the effects of the Great Depression affecting nearly everyone in the American Society, the African-American (Blacks) families were the most affected.

Jesse Logan’s Employment and Family Background

In 1931, many Americans had already lost their jobs as the effects of the Great Depression raged. However, Jesse Logan was lucky he still had his employment. Many of his African-American friends were already out of their jobs and were contemplating shifting to the North. Born in 1914, Jesse Logan a 17-year-old young African-American man worked in a bean canning factory in the South of Florida. He lived with his family near a small coastal town in Florida where his father, Jeremy Logan and mother Florence Logan owned a small agricultural farm. His family was among the African-American beneficiaries of the Civil Rights Act of 1863 and the amendments of the 13th, 14th, and 15th schedules of the Constitution, which allowed the Black families to own properties (Kennedy, 23). Being the firstborn in the family of six and also due to the financial constraints of his family, Logan had left school when he was only 9 to give his younger siblings a chance also to study. Back then, the most critical aspect of education in most African-American families was gaining the basics of education, which were reading and writing (Brinkley, 44). The primary reason was that even with formal education, getting a formal job was almost impossible for the Black people. He began working at his family’s farm assisting his father in growing crops, and at the age of 12, he got employed at the bean canning factory as a casual hand grader.

The Dismissal of Jesse Logan

As the biting effects of the Great Depression continued, his luck ran out on 7th September 1931. That day, Jesse Logan reported to work as usual and began working. By that time, he was the only Black person still working at the factory. The factory manager, George Graham (a white man) loved him for his dedication and hard work and was determined to keep him. However, on that day, the manager called Logan to his office and gave him a dismissal letter. At the office, two white men were sitting while facing Mr. Graham. One of the men was older (approximately in his 50s) while the other was young (in his early 20s). Later, Logan discovered that the two men were father and son and his manager had already hired the son as his replacement. Mr. Graham had bowed to the external pressure and had to sack Logan.

Logan’s Response and Formation of the National Negro Congress

Logan’s situation was not a particular case; he had witnessed similar circumstances at the factory where all African-Americans that were working there before, were dismissed in the previous year to make way for the white employees (Brinkley, 51). Logan was devastated, and the manager’s action ascertained the belief his friends had on Blacks losing their jobs to create spaces for the whites. He left the factory a bitter man, bitter with the government and angry with how white people treated the Black people. Back at home, the effects of the Great Depression had already had a considerable impact on the family’s well-being. His father was forced to lease out his family farm to a white neighbor. They were then forced by the continued lack of employment and other finance generating activities to work for their white neighbor on their leased farm. Logan joined his family in tilling the farm and was paid with remnants of the crops after harvest (Brinkley, 61). The situation rekindled the slave memories, and that triggered his civil right instincts.

During his free time, Logan used to meet up with other African-American young men in the neighborhood, and they would discuss issues that affect them. In entirety, Logan felt that President Herbert Hoover, a Republican, was not doing enough to protect the interests and the rights of the Black people. During his free times, he lobbied his Black friends to shift to the Democratic Party. Initially, during the elections of 1928, many Blacks moved from the Republic Party and overwhelmingly voted for the Democratic Party candidate for the first time in history (Brinkley, 61). Following the experience of President Hoover’s presidency, Logan increasingly embraced the Democrats’ ideology. During Hoover’s tenure as the president, America experienced increased closure of factories and banks, prices of crops dropped, and farming became expensive, schools closed down, and many families, especially the Black families, were left homeless (Fishback, 9). Additionally, during the period, Logan witnessed the public assistance programs and some charities being biased towards the Black people. Therefore, in the 1932 presidential elections, Logan lobbied his fellow Blacks to vote for a Democratic candidate Franklin D. Roosevelt.

The Formation of the Southern Negro Youth Congress

Jesse Logan believed that Roosevelt’s ideology would alleviate the already worsening economic conditions of the African-Americans. The increasing incidences of discrimination and unfair treatment of the Black people was Logan’s primary concern. Logan felt that the government favored the white more at the expense of the Black people. In 1932, Logan led a boycott movement where the Black people in Florida were asked to avoid shops that only employed the white people. After the election of 1932, Jesse Logan’s favorite candidate Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected as the new president (Fishback, 11). The president did well immediately after ascending into power by incorporating Blacks into the government such as Mary Bethune heading Negro welfare. In 1936, the economy had begun to stabilize, but the effects of the Great Depression were still rife. Therefore, Logan began to campaign to unify the Black people in Florida and all other states in America. He believed that the Black people could achieve economic and financial prosperity if they unite and champion for issues affecting them in unison (Sloes, 34).

The Impact of Logan’s Movement

Logan thus formed the National Negro Congress in 1936 and recruited hundreds of members. The members of the movement lobbied the government to help the African-American families regain their economic and financial stability by promoting government assistance programs among the Black communities and assist them in getting employment. In 1937, Logan helped in the formation of the Southern Negro Youth Congress, which together with the National Negro Congress formed a mighty Negro or Black movement across America. The campaign began a big revolution among the Black communities as many African-American became aware of their rights and would demand them when they felt oppressed. The movement bore fruit later in 1937, where President Franklin D. Roosevelt introduced a new public program on low-cost housing that targeted explicitly at the Black families (Fishback, 13). The Great Depression had rendered many African-Americans homeless, and the discrimination made it worse. Even though the low-cost housing program targeted the Blacks, the program had incidences of discrimination. President Roosevelt also introduced accessible education for the African-Americans (Fishback, 13). Towards the end of 1939, which also marked the end of the Great Depression, Logan’s movement had played its role in highlighting economic and social issues that affected the Black people. The Logan’s movement that began in the middle of the Great Depression paved the way for significant human rights movement especially about the rights of the African Americans in the subsequent years.

Conclusion

Logan’s actions depict and represent the elements of courage, belief, and determination. As a young man in Florida, he witnessed the injustices that the Blacks faced during the Great Depression. Many lost their jobs at the expense of the whites, and despite the economic conditions being worse, the already worse financial situation of the Blacks dipped further. His determination and courage to help the Black community led to the formation of the Black movement that not only played a significant role during the Great Depression but also in the later years in promoting equality and the rights of the Black people in America.

Works Cited

Brinkley, Alan. Voices of Protest: Huey Long, Father Coughlin, & the Great Depression. Vintage, 2011.

Fishback, Price V., Michael R. Haines, and Shawn Kantor. “Births, deaths, and New Deal relief during the Great Depression.”The review of economics and statistics 89.1, 2007, 1-14.

Kennedy, David M. The American People in the Great Depression: Freedom from Fear, Part One. Oxford University Press, 2003. Print

Sloes, Amity. The forgotten man: A new history of the Great Depression. Vol. 824. Random House, 2009.