"Part of the daily lineup outside the State Employment Service Office. Memphis, Tennessee"
African Americans were poor to begin with, but the Great Depression made their plight worse. They tended to work in industries most affected y the economic downturn, and in such dire circumstances white workers often took even the difficult, low-status jobs to which black workers had long been relegated. In this 1938 photo, African-American men wait in a long line for employment assistance. While New Deal assistance programs were funded by the federal government, they were administered at the state and local levels. This resulted in widespread discrimination against African Americans, who received far less than their fair share of assistance, particularly in the segregated South.
Source | Dorothea Lange, "Part of the daily lineup outside the State Employment Service Office. Memphis, Tennessee," Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Photograph Collection, Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress.
Creator | Dorothea Lange
Item Type | Photograph
Cite This document | Dorothea Lange, “"Part of the daily lineup outside the State Employment Service Office. Memphis, Tennessee",” SHEC: Resources for Teachers, accessed April 20, 2024, https://shec.ashp.cuny.edu/items/show/1087.
Creator | Dorothea Lange
Item Type | Photograph
Cite This document | Dorothea Lange, “"Part of the daily lineup outside the State Employment Service Office. Memphis, Tennessee",” SHEC: Resources for Teachers, accessed April 20, 2024, https://shec.ashp.cuny.edu/items/show/1087.
