In October 1929 the crash of the stock market pronounced the birth of a severe recession in the economy of the 1930’s. During the first years of the recession, the Americans suffered tremendously. Over the next several years, consumer spending and investment dropped, causing steep declines in industrial output and rising levels of unemployment as failing companies laid off workers. By 1933, when the Great Depression reached its nadir, some 13 to 15 million Americans were unemployed and nearly half of the country’s banks had failed (History.com Staff, 2009).
Franklin Roosevelt became President in 1932 which he introduced many state-level reforms that later formed the basis of his New Deal as well as working with several advisors who later formed the Brains Trust that advised his federal agenda. In his first hundred days in office, the new president pushed forward an unprecedented number of new bills, all geared towards stabilizing the economy, providing relief to individuals, creating jobs, and helping businesses (OpenStax, 2014, p. 773, 767). From these efforts, the New Deal established the Agricultural Adjustment Act and the National Industry Recovery Act.
Even though Americans were provided with many jobs the relief did not focus on the long lasting deep-rooted unfairness that in danger the workers to poor working conditions like low wages, long hours, and little protection. As far as concern, working under those conditions was probably no different than being unemployed. After the National Industry Recovery Act was established conditions for Black Americans got worse which angered black workers.
Safety conditions were as bad as the wages. Carbon Monoxide poisoning, “hot mill cramps” from working in suffocating hot temperatures, and pneumonia took hundreds of lives yearly. Equipment was out of date, safety devices missing, and breakdowns caused accidents that in normal times would not have happened. In the steel industry alo...