Conditions Farmers In Arkansas And Oklahoma example essay topic

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) One third of all money allotted to poor relief went to the Works Progress Administration. Employs people to construct hospitals, school and public buildings. The Rural Electrification Administration Aimed to bring electricity to America's farms. Before it was set up 9/10 American farms had no electricity supply. The rural electrification scheme meant groups of farmers together borrowed money from the government to build power lines. Big success, 1941 4/10, 1951 9/10 The National Labor Relations Act (Wagner Act) Designed to bring peace between workers and employers after violent disputes of 1934.

Gave firm government backing to the right of workers to form unions. Employers obliged to accept the formation of the unions peacefully -Roosevelt's prospects improved after he launched the 2nd New Deal -Huge sums of money were spent on the poor and the unemployed trying to stop people criticising him for the fact that 9 million people will still out of work -Roosevelt's most dangerous opponent, Huey Long, was assassinated in 1935 and after that Coughlin and Townsend became increasing unpopular -Roosevelt easily won the presidential election in 1936 standing against Alfred Landon the republican candidate -Roosevelt received 27 million votes to Landon's 16 million -Despite this Roosevelt was still criticised for the new deal by black people and farmers Black people -Many felt that the Wall Street Crash (1929) affected white people more than them -They felt the country only started to pay attention to poverty when it happened to white people, the majority of black people were poor and some were victims of extreme violence -Roosevelt felt when many northern Democrats wanted to pass an anti-lynching bill that if he supported it he risked losing support of southern whites -Many southern black people didn't vote in the election 1932 -Roosevelt had 59% of the white vote and 23% of the black vote -After his elections black leaders found many early New Deal projects discriminated against black people -The number of black people on relief increased from around 18% to 30% Farmers -Things grew worse for the farmers in the 1930's -From 193206 there was a severe drought in the farming states of Arkansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota. Millions of acres of farmland and pasturage became dry -Cattle dropped dead, the intense heat was followed by strong winds blowing the dry top soil away -Farming land once green and fertile now like a desert -Roosevelt sent out government agents to see how bad these conditions were and found that the travelling workers were facing appalling conditions -Farmers in Arkansas and Oklahoma felt they had no choice but to leave their homes and head west -Needing work and faced with starvation they set out to California, thinking that there they could earn a living -It was a long and difficult journey, many migrants were turned away at the state border by Californian authorities -If they got through they were names 'Okies' and 'Arkies' and were viewed with suspicion and hostility -The farmers who had lost everything thought the government had done little to help them -Not all farmers abandoned their land, those who stayed received some help; massive programmes of forestation to combat soil erosion across a huge area covering seven states by the Tennessee Valley Authority.