The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 95, July 1991 - April, 1992 Page: 18
598 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Hzstorical Quarterly
Segregation also proved unassailable by New Deal agencies. Many
programs enforced separation, as did the WPA in its sewing rooms and
the Civilian Conservation Corps in its camps. The inchoate public hous-
ing program preserved racial segregation, first under the aegis of the
PWA and subsequently, the U.S. Housing Authority. Under the PWA's
Harold Ickes, about half the federal housing projects in the South went
to blacks, and PWA housing contracts required the hiring of black
workers. Dallas began construction of public housing projects during
the 1930s, designating most of them for black occupation. No question
ever arose about the suitability of segregated housing units-no one,
black or white, called for integrated projects-but implementation of
the program aroused considerable controversy nevertheless. Construc-
tion delays developed when black projects fell too near white neighbor-
hoods, and despite PWA and USHA housing contract stipulations that
blacks be employed in construction, local authorities often failed to
do so."3
The New Deal provided new housing, jobs, and relief for many desti-
tute blacks in Dallas but always under the vigilant control of local au-
thorities. Municipal officials set guidelines and implemented policies to
reinforce existing racial norms-with little or no federal incursions.
Even the blacks helped by New Deal programs lived in a community
where segregation and second-class citizenship went largely unques-
tioned. In Dallas, as throughout the South, few blacks voted and none
held elective office. The assault on Jim Crowism and political disfran-
chisement, a post-World War II movement, received little impetus
from the New Deal.
The Great Depression struck hard in Dallas. Although the city fared
better than some others because of the oil bonanza, problems arose to
tax local resources. Businesses shut down, workers lost jobs, productiv-
ity declined, trade ebbed, and the demands for relief skyrocketed. Re-
duced tax collections, no heritage of social welfare, and city govern-
ment's insistence upon fiscal "responsibility" combined to curtail the
amount of relief offered the needy in Dallas and other southern cities.
The New Deal provided some aid but, even when most generously
funded, only for a fraction of the needy and at wage levels below the
standards in other regions. New Deal alphabet agencies allowed Dallas
to minimize its welfare contributions, not expand them. City leadership
rested more firmly than ever in the city's business elite by the end of the
decade. The defenders of the status quo preserved the community's in-
dependence from union influence, at least for the immediate future.
2Tindall, The Emergence of the New South, 1913-1945, 546; Charles S. Johnson, Patterns of
Negro Segregatzon (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1943), 37.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 95, July 1991 - April, 1992, periodical, 1992; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth117153/m1/46/: accessed May 4, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.