African Americans did not benefit as much as other groups as a result of the New Deal. African Americans faced discrimination when it came time to hire people for the jobs that were created by the various government relief programs designed to help people get back to work. Social Security didn’t cover domestic workers, which was a field in which many African American women worked. African American tenant farmers were also not covered by the Agricultural Adjustment Act.

Eventually, President Roosevelt intervened and some of these programs such as the Civilian Conservation Corps and the Public Works Administration began to employ African American workers. Some programs, like the Works Progress Administration, required a quota in terms of the number of African Americans that had to be hired to work on various projects. There also was a literacy program that helped African American children learn to read and write, and there were federal programs that featured the works of African American musicians and artists.

Race relations didn’t improve much under Roosevelt’s presidency. President Roosevelt couldn’t risk alienating southern Democrats, who had no interest in changing the social or political system in the South. While Roosevelt appointed African Americans to various government positions, most of these positions were minor ones. Segregation continued to exist in the South. President Roosevelt did speak out against lynching and wanted to see the end of the practice of using the poll tax. However, overall, there weren’t major improvements made in the area of race relations while Roosevelt was president.