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• 1 media/New Deal Eleanor Roosevelt and AA.jpg 2018-03-14T17:48:56-07:00 The New Deal 5 image_header 2018-04-10T00:44:16-07:00 In 1933, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal changed the role the federal government played in job creation and social welfare. Because a Democratic president offered assistance, Blacks in America began to rethink party loyalty. The New Deal was Roosevelt’s radical plan for recovery in the Great Depression. By revising America’s laissez-faire policy, the New Deal dipped into the federal government’s unlimited resources to create programs designed for immediate relief to starving and homeless Americans, short-term recovery for flailing businesses, and long term reforms to prevent a recurrence of the crisis. The New Deal included assistance for African Americans to a limited extent. The Federal Housing Authority (FHA) helped establish low cost housing for the poor, both white and black. In the Works Progress Administration (WPA) provided jobs for more than 350,000 blacks building roads and infrastructure. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) hired 18 – 25 year old family members to improve pubic spaces such as parks and civic buildings. The young  men received $5 each month and another $25 was sent to his family at home. The National Youth Administration hired black administrators to oversee youth programs in primarily urban areas and the Public Works Administration (PWA) required contractors hire a percentage of African Americans in skilled jobs. More importantly, African Americans felt the White House gave them a sympathetic ear, much of that due to the efforts of the First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt. After almost 70 years of Republican loyalty, those few African Americans that retained the right to vote switched parties.