WEBVTT

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For the purpose
of this week,

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we'll essentially be
resting in the 1930s,

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essentially.  It's a week's
worth of lecture dealing

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with the Great Depression. 
In October of 1929,

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the stock market crashes,
and in a quick cascade of

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events, Herbert
Hoover, then the President,

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finds himself out of office
and Franklin Roosevelt is

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elected
promising a New Deal,

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a New Deal for America. 
This week's lectures are

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about the Great Depression,
Roosevelt's New Deal,

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and several critical moments
and developments related to

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the African American
experience.  And I want you

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to--We should all start with
a basic understanding of my

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approach to the nineteen--to
the 1930s.  If the twenties

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can be understood as the
decade of the New Negro,

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a new sort of social and
cultural and political world

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view, the 1930s needs to be
understood as a decade of

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retrenchment and political
advancement.  We've seen

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this before, going into the
late nineteenth century and

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into the turn of the
twentieth century.  And

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we're just seeing a--a new
cycle of people gathering

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themselves up and
articulating new visions and

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new agendas, or new, new
methods to pursue on these

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agendas for the future. 
As far as retrenchment,

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after so many cultural
celebrations and giddiness

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of the Jazz
Age, as, you know,

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the soldiers
that have returned,

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the economic downturn made a
different--not new really,

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but a different set of
priorities come to the

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surface.  The economy's
in tatters and African

01:44.300 --> 01:47.800
Americans are the
hardest hit.  And as far as

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political
advancement is concerned,

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along with the retrenchment
comes a range of political

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responses to these
setbacks that demonstrate an

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independence of spirit among
African Americans as far as

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political possibilities. 
Now this retrenchment and

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political advancement, I
don't want to make too much

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of a big deal.  One can
identify these themes in any

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particular decade or
moment in time of course.

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But there is--there's
something very special I

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think about the 1930s as
far as these aspects are

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concerned.  The 1930s forms
the backdrop for the modern

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civil rights movement, that
movement that is popularly

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thought of as
occurring from Brown v.

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Board's decision in 1954 up
until King's assassination. 

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As you'll come to
understand very quickly,

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that notion, boundedness of
the civil rights movement,

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is really sort of discarded
by historians at this

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point.  And many historians
are talking about a long

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civil rights movement, a
movement that predates the

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Supreme Court decision and
goes back a decade or more. 

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I'll talk more about
this in a--in a week or so,

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this phenomenon of the long
civil rights movement.  But

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regardless of where one
decides to sort of start the

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civil rights movement,
you need to understand the

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thirties is
clearly the seedbed,

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the moment where a whole
new range of political

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strategies are going
to be articulated,

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and these grow out of
this moment of retrenchment,

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trying to gathers--gather
oneself together in light of

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economic despair.  Now I
want to cover the story of

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the 1930s.  I
mean for any era,

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there's too many different
stories one could tell,

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but I want to explore the
themes of retrenchment and

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political advancement in
the 1930s via a number of

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stories.  And this covers
this lecture and Wednesday's

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lecture.  I'll be talking
about the Black Cabinet,

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the Scottsboro Boys,
the New Negro Alliance,

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the National Negro Congress,
Marian Anderson and the

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March on Washington
movement.  This is a series

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of different--different
kinds of events that really

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marked, marked us right
through the 1930s with the

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March on Washington movement
taking shape in 1941. 

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Throughout this whole era,
or this era--the umbrella

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covering this era,
is the New Deal,

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and that's what I want to
start off with very quickly,

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so we have just a--sort of a
shared understanding of what

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the New Deal is doing and
why it's important.  So the

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stock market
crashes in October,

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'29.  The country's
economically destabilized,

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millions are thrown out
of work.  Black and white

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unemployment skyrocketed,
but blacks are particularly

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hard hit.  Job shortages and
old-fashioned racism combine

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in such a way that a
familiar--familiar rallying

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cry would be hear--heard at
job lines and such when a

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black person showed
up.  And I'm quoting,

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"No jobs for niggers until
every white man has a job." 

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A time of
economic stress, good,

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old-fashioned racism
makes itself known loud and

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clear.  Even in such
major cities like Atlanta,

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some sixty-five percent of,
of employable blacks needed

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public assistance.  This
is economic devastation.

05:24.100 --> 05:26.400
Hoover believed in
volunteerism and thought the

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economy would turn itself
around without government

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intervention.  But by the
time he realized the scope

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of the problem, he
found himself losing the

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presidential
election.  FDR's elected,

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promises a New Deal.  Now
the New Deal's a massive

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federal experiment in
big government.  It was an

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alphabet soup, as, as
historians refer to it,

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an alphabet
soup of agencies,

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each representing
different forms of federal

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intervention.  And I'm
putting a--sev--a whole

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bunch of them,
not all of them,

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up on the board here, and
I'm going to very quickly go

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through them to help you
understand the scope of the

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change.  You have the
FSA, or the Farm Security

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Administration,
and the Agricultural

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Adjustment--Adjustment
Administration,

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two that are organizations
that are very important to

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African Americans, aside
from being important to all

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Americans, because
African Americans are still

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predominantly--although
it's shifting--still

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predominantly an
agricultural population. 

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They had the
National Recovery Act,

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the NRA--that and I'll get
into a little more about the

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NRA, it's very important,
in a few minutes--that among

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other things establishes
the minimum wage,

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or establishes minimum wages
is the better way to put

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it.  And there's a very
curious relationship with

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African American--African
Americans and the jobs that

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they hold.  The Tennessee
Valley Authority and the

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Rural--Rural
Electric--Electrification

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Administration, these are
up here really to point out

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what kind of radical change
the New Deal is really all

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about.  This is an era when
they're actually bringing

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electricity for the first
time to large parts of the

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country through, through the
TVA and hydroelectricity and

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rural electrification.  It's
a radical reordering of how

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the country's going to
work.  National Youth

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Administration, NYA,
which as we'll see,

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I'll talk briefly
about it later on,

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is one of these many
administrations that has a

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Negro division, and the
Negro division becomes

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important.  I mean I'll,
I'll--You can bookmark it

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for the moment. 
Civilian Conservation Corps,

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the CCC, literally putting
mostly men to work by

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digging ditches,
planting trees,

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giving them some sort of job
to do so they can get some

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wage from the
federal government,

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so they can feed
themselves.  Public Works

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Administration, the Works
Progress Administration,

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the PWA turns into the
WPA, doing work on public

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projects.  Social
Security is established,

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the Securities and Exchange
Commission is established,

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the FDIC, the
Federal Emergency Relief

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Administration.  All of
these are brand new during

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this era.  So what we
consider the essential work

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of the federal
government is,

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in our contemporary moment
is essentially created

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during the New Deal.  All is
a radical attempt to end the

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Great Depression.  And
we have been wrestling,

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we, political
leaders, activists,

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have been wrestling with the
legacy of the New Deal ever

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since.  Now the point
of listing all of these

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agencies up here is not just
that many of these had a

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direct effect on African
American employment and,

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as you'll see,
political possibility,

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but it also will
bring into--I'm sort of

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for--projecting here a
bit--it will underscore

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changes--how can I...not
changes--articulations,

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new articulations of changes
in terms of the limits of

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the federal government. 
We'll see during our lecture

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of the civil
rights movement,

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there's a core issue and
that's the fed--limits of

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federal government versus
states' government.  With

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the explosion in the size
of the federal government,

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you can see this problem
looming ever larger on the

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horizon.  Now very
basic questions,

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was the New Deal
successful?  It's all an

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experiment. 
And economically,

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the answer is mixed. 
Yes, there is no doubt,

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it saved millions
from starvation,

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I mean, literally saving
folks from starving to

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death.  But the economy
doesn't actually turn around

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until the U.S.

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begins arming Europe as it
heads toward Second World

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War.  When the U.S.

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becomes a military factory
and then itself becomes

09:56.300 --> 09:57.700
involved in the
Second World War,

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that's when the economy
turns--absolutely booms and

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it turns around at that
point.  So economically it

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saves people from starving
but it doesn't turn the

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economy
around.  Politically,

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it's much more complicated. 
From an institutional

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standpoint, there's no
doubt that the New Deal's

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significant.  Whether it's
successful I guess might be

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an interesting word to
wrest with here because,

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as I said before, it
makes the modern American

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political state.  It does it
in the space of just a few

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years.  Now from the
standpoint of the African

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American experience, was the
New Deal successful in terms

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of politics here? 
There's a real mixed record.

10:38.300 --> 10:42.470
On the ground, too many
federal programs were left

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to local
administrators to run.

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So you have--and this is
where something like the

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Farm Security
Administration,

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Agricultural
Administration--Adjustment

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Administration, are really
important.  Federal policy

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is saying you're not
going to discriminate. 

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Everybody's going to get a
sh--a cut of this New Deal. 

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But the bailouts are handed
out at the local level,

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at the local Farm
Bureau, let's say,

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and localized racial
practices simply just don't

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disappear.  So you have
growing out of the New Deal,

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or during the New Deal,
American farms being saved,

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but the farms that are being
saved overwhelmingly are

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those that are white-owned
and not black-owned.  So

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when you think of the New
Deal from the standpoint of

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did it benefit
African Americans,

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you can look at federal--at,
at the sort of national

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policy and see something,
non-discrimination pacts,

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but local level's
where it really matters,

11:40.400 --> 11:48.200
you see a very different
story there.  Now just as

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some of these--many of these
New Deal programs were doing

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something important by being
non-discriminatory in their

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language, and then therefore
at the local level being

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more complicated, they
weren't all perfect at the

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federal level of
articulation.  And this is

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where the NRA, the National
Recovery Administration,

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really needs to be
understood.  As I said

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before, the NRA designed
a set of minimum wages,

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basically wage standards,
across the country.  So,

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for instance, if you
are rolling steel,

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you're going to get paid a
certain minimum wage.  If

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you are--boy, of the
billion and a half jobs,

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I can't think of
anything right now.  If

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you're--[laughs] God, pick
a job--you are doing some

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other mechanized thing,
how's that for a complete

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bailout?  You're going
to get paid a certain set

12:46.400 --> 12:48.700
wage.  Now the reason
I was flailing here,

12:48.700 --> 12:51.800
because there are certain
areas the NRA doesn't

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address the minimum wage,
and I kept wanting to say

12:54.200 --> 12:58.300
those things; That's why I
was fumbling.  It does not

12:58.300 --> 13:01.170
establish minimum wages
for people in agricultural

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sector.  It does not set
minimum wages for people

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doing domestic work.  Guess
what African Americans are

13:09.667 --> 13:12.697
mostly employed in:
agricultural work and

13:12.700 --> 13:18.600
domestic work.  Now there
are all kinds of reasons

13:18.600 --> 13:25.100
that people who conceived
the NRA had for not putting

13:25.100 --> 13:28.100
floors at, at certain wages
for certain industries,

13:28.100 --> 13:30.800
agriculture and domestic
work in this case.  They

13:30.800 --> 13:32.000
weren't
explicitly about, "Oh,

13:32.000 --> 13:34.700
let's stick it to these
people."  But the fact was,

13:34.700 --> 13:38.370
the effect was, they were
sticking it to these people,

13:38.367 --> 13:41.567
to farmers in general and to
people doing domestic work. 

13:44.100 --> 13:48.270
The NRA then becomes a
symbol for how little the

13:48.267 --> 13:53.597
New Deal was doing for black
America.  Long term effects,

13:53.600 --> 13:55.300
there's no doubt,
very important,

13:55.300 --> 13:57.870
and we'll see that in
the next couple of weeks,

13:57.867 --> 14:01.897
from the concept of what the
federal government is.  From

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an institutional standpoint,
there's no doubt,

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it's important,
it's critical,

14:04.700 --> 14:07.300
it's saving lives.  When it
comes to black life on the

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ground, a mixed bag.

14:08.300 --> 14:12.400
When it comes to NRA, which
had really more power than

14:12.400 --> 14:15.700
any other of these
administrations to change

14:15.700 --> 14:20.800
the quality of black life,
to sort of bolster it up,

14:20.800 --> 14:24.600
no dice.  So African
Americans start calling the

14:24.600 --> 14:26.000
National Recovery
Administration,

14:26.000 --> 14:30.070
the letters NRA, referred
to as Negro Rights Abused,

14:30.067 --> 14:33.897
Negro Rights Assassinated,
Negro Removal Act,

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Negroes Ruined Again. 
Now we're talking bread and

14:41.667 --> 14:44.497
butter issues here.  But
politics of course exist at

14:44.500 --> 14:49.100
the symbolic level, and
when it comes to African

14:49.100 --> 14:54.100
Americans, there is no
doubt that symbolically,

14:54.100 --> 14:59.400
the New Deal was an
overwhelming success.  The

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political symbolism of the
New Deal for blacks came

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mostly through the
establishment of a group

15:06.900 --> 15:10.200
called the Federal
Council on Negro Affairs,

15:10.200 --> 15:15.300
the Black Cabinet.  They're
the same thing.  The Black

15:15.300 --> 15:18.000
Cabinet was an
unofficial--it's important

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to understand that part--an
unofficial collection of

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race advisors, and
that was their title,

15:26.500 --> 15:28.070
who stood in various
places in Roosevelt's

15:28.067 --> 15:30.067
administration.

15:32.800 --> 15:38.370
This was the first
broad-based group of

15:38.367 --> 15:40.467
federally
appointed bureaucrats and

15:40.467 --> 15:42.567
administrators who
were African American,

15:42.567 --> 15:45.097
at the federal
government--in the federal

15:45.100 --> 15:46.700
government's history. 
Prior to this moment,

15:46.700 --> 15:48.970
you might have Frederick
Douglass appointed to

15:48.967 --> 15:50.667
federal position, Booker T.

15:50.667 --> 15:52.797
Washington being consulted
by the President about

15:52.800 --> 15:57.000
certain kinds of ideas and
policies.  But in the New

15:57.000 --> 16:00.770
Deal, you're
actually getting a,

16:00.767 --> 16:06.767
a cadre of African Americans
with federal appointments,

16:08.900 --> 16:11.270
working within the
administration on a

16:11.267 --> 16:16.597
full-time basis.  The
members of the Black Cabinet

16:16.600 --> 16:21.170
were all highly-educated
and all male,

16:21.167 --> 16:23.967
with the lone exception
of Mary McLeod Bethune,

16:23.967 --> 16:29.967
who was the one, well,
one female.  Seems my,

16:29.967 --> 16:34.697
there we go.  Mary McLeod
Bethune.  And the spelling

16:34.700 --> 16:36.200
is correct and the
pronunciation's correct,

16:36.200 --> 16:41.600
it's "McCloud." 
Mary McLeod Bethune,

16:41.600 --> 16:44.870
the sole female in
the Black Cabinet,

16:44.867 --> 16:47.597
who also happened to be
regarded as the cabinet's

16:47.600 --> 16:51.370
leader.  Now the
Cabinet, the Black Cabinet,

16:51.367 --> 16:56.697
leaves no discernible policy
record or legacy.  Their

16:56.700 --> 16:59.500
job, the job, the
things they did were mainly

16:59.500 --> 17:01.070
accomplished
behind the scenes.

17:01.067 --> 17:02.997
And, in fact,
I, I know this,

17:03.000 --> 17:05.000
this--I planned to write my
dissertation on the Black

17:05.000 --> 17:07.700
Cabinet, only to
discover, once I got here,

17:07.700 --> 17:14.700
there was no record.  So,
new dissertation topic. 

17:14.700 --> 17:17.600
Their job was mainly
conducted behind the scenes,

17:17.600 --> 17:20.400
so you'd have a
Secretary of the Interior,

17:20.400 --> 17:24.900
or a Secretary
of Agriculture,

17:24.900 --> 17:27.400
wanting to, you know, find
out what's going on with

17:27.400 --> 17:28.570
black America.

17:28.567 --> 17:30.267
They have a race advisor,
and they would assign

17:30.267 --> 17:32.197
him--overwhelmingly
him, of course,

17:32.200 --> 17:35.570
except for Mary McLeod
Bethune--the task of finding

17:35.567 --> 17:38.467
out, or being the,
the touchstone to,

17:38.467 --> 17:40.397
to understand what's
happening in black America. 

17:40.400 --> 17:43.070
And there might be
an issue bubbling up,

17:43.067 --> 17:45.497
say in the National
Parks or some other place,

17:45.500 --> 17:47.470
that the race
advisor might know about,

17:47.467 --> 17:51.267
and would put sort of a
bug in his boss's ear,

17:51.267 --> 17:54.067
and it might gently change
administration policy,

17:54.067 --> 17:57.397
or maybe even law that way. 
But we don't actually know

17:57.400 --> 18:02.600
the literal changes they
made.  But we do know that

18:02.600 --> 18:10.200
they were very important
symbolically.  And the most

18:10.200 --> 18:11.970
important person
symbolically in this regard

18:11.967 --> 18:14.597
is Mary McLeod
Bethune.  Bethune,

18:14.600 --> 18:17.300
who's the head of the
Negro Youth Division of the

18:17.300 --> 18:19.300
National Youth
Administration,

18:22.200 --> 18:25.600
an educator,
lifelong educator,

18:25.600 --> 18:29.100
and then, most importantly,
a close friend of the first

18:29.100 --> 18:32.770
lady, Eleanor
Roosevelt.  Bethune is seen,

18:32.767 --> 18:38.497
seen to be the voice of
black America in so many

18:38.500 --> 18:42.100
ways, in this,
in this, in the,

18:42.100 --> 18:45.600
the Black Cabinet, that is,
because she had access.  And

18:45.600 --> 18:49.100
there was--it was op--it was
not a secret.  It was well

18:49.100 --> 18:52.300
known that if you wanted to
talk to Franklin Roosevelt

18:52.300 --> 18:54.500
and you're African American,
you had to go through

18:54.500 --> 18:57.700
Eleanor Roosevelt, and
if you wanted to talk to

18:57.700 --> 18:58.700
Eleanor Roosevelt, you had
to go through Mary McLeod

18:58.700 --> 19:06.570
Bethune to get access.  So
the Black Cabinet needs to

19:06.567 --> 19:11.997
be understood as the first
political insiders in black

19:12.000 --> 19:18.000
America, and I'm talking
high politics here.  This is

19:24.700 --> 19:27.900
an era where the Black
Cabinet officers would be

19:27.900 --> 19:30.600
trotted out. 
Pictures of them,

19:30.600 --> 19:32.500
or sometimes
themselves literally,

19:32.500 --> 19:36.870
trotted out, sent on sort of
as part of a delegation to a

19:36.867 --> 19:40.597
particular area of
town, the country,

19:40.600 --> 19:42.300
representing the federal
government to a black

19:42.300 --> 19:45.900
enclave.  And they were seen
as embodying the fact that

19:45.900 --> 19:48.770
Roosevelt cared.  Whether
you're talking Mary McLeod

19:48.767 --> 19:51.497
Bethune or somebody else,
Roosevelt cared because he

19:51.500 --> 19:54.400
had people appointed to
express or deal with,

19:54.400 --> 19:57.270
address their concerns. 
This is how they're

19:57.267 --> 19:59.897
symbolically so important,
and it's also important to

19:59.900 --> 20:01.400
know that over the
course of the 1930s,

20:01.400 --> 20:05.500
during FDR's presidency,
through the interventions of

20:05.500 --> 20:07.900
the New Deal,
sometimes literally,

20:07.900 --> 20:11.370
most often symbolically,
African Americans turn from

20:11.367 --> 20:14.167
a Republican
voting population to a

20:14.167 --> 20:16.667
Democrat--Democratic voting
population.  A complete

20:16.667 --> 20:22.797
shift by the time you get to
the late 1930s.  The Black

20:22.800 --> 20:28.170
Cabinet's important in that
process.  Now just as you're

20:28.167 --> 20:32.697
seeing the establishment
of the first sort of

20:32.700 --> 20:36.000
professional
administrators, bureaucrats,

20:36.000 --> 20:38.300
African American, in
the federal government,

20:38.300 --> 20:42.400
certainly at high level,
there is--this is also an

20:42.400 --> 20:47.570
era of incredible political
setback and disappointment.

20:47.567 --> 20:49.397
So you see the great
political possibility of the

20:49.400 --> 20:52.800
Black Cabinet, but you also
see events happening in the

20:52.800 --> 20:55.400
early 1930s that horrify
black America.  The most

20:55.400 --> 20:57.800
famous of these cases
was the Scottsboro Boys

20:57.800 --> 21:03.400
scandal.  On
March 25th, 1931,

21:03.400 --> 21:08.200
a white boy comes
off of a train,

21:08.200 --> 21:10.270
passing through Tennessee
and the northern tips of

21:10.267 --> 21:14.267
Alabama.  He comes off the
train with a bloody head and

21:14.267 --> 21:16.197
claims that there was a
big fight between black and

21:16.200 --> 21:18.170
white boys on his freight
train that just passed

21:18.167 --> 21:22.967
through town.  A posse
forms.  The train is stopped

21:22.967 --> 21:28.697
at the next station.  The
posse looks for and arrests

21:28.700 --> 21:30.470
the nine black boys who
happen to be on the freight

21:30.467 --> 21:35.297
train.  Now what the posse
had not expected--and that

21:35.300 --> 21:36.300
would have been the
end of the story,

21:36.300 --> 21:38.300
if that was all that had
happened.  What the posse

21:38.300 --> 21:41.670
had not expected to
find were two white women,

21:41.667 --> 21:44.397
Ruby Bates and Victoria
Price.  And they were found

21:44.400 --> 21:49.100
in the same freight car as
some of the black boys.  As

21:49.100 --> 21:51.600
soon as Ruby Bates and
Victoria Price are brought

21:51.600 --> 21:53.700
out, they see all of the
police and the posse around

21:53.700 --> 21:56.500
them, and they're
with these black boys,

21:58.700 --> 22:03.100
they immediately size up
the situation and declare

22:03.100 --> 22:10.100
they've been raped.  This
changes everything.  The

22:10.100 --> 22:14.500
nine boys are
accused of rape,

22:14.500 --> 22:16.200
become known as the
Scottsboro Boys.  That's

22:16.200 --> 22:18.000
where the, the court
cases were being held,

22:18.000 --> 22:21.900
in Scottsboro, Alabama. 
They range in age from

22:21.900 --> 22:29.700
twenty to thirteen.  There
were one or two brother

22:29.700 --> 22:31.900
pairs, but they
didn't know each other,

22:31.900 --> 22:35.100
essentially.  They all
happened to be there.  But

22:35.100 --> 22:38.300
word of the rape
spreads like wildfire,

22:38.300 --> 22:41.170
and the next day, a mob of
two thousand people forms at

22:41.167 --> 22:45.067
the jail where
they'd been kept,

22:45.067 --> 22:48.397
urging the release
of the Boys so that,

22:48.400 --> 22:51.770
quote, "southern justice"
could be handed out.  The

22:51.767 --> 22:55.197
National Guard is called
in immediately to keep them

22:55.200 --> 23:00.500
safe, which is remarkable
in and of itself.  The media

23:00.500 --> 23:03.800
does not help
matters when it,

23:03.800 --> 23:06.500
when it comes to this
particular case and the fact

23:06.500 --> 23:11.100
that, you know, the word of
this vicious attack starts

23:11.100 --> 23:16.470
to spread.  As they start
the process of sending the

23:16.467 --> 23:23.197
Boys to trial, the
media, several quotes from

23:23.200 --> 23:27.000
different newspapers:
"How much farther apart than

23:27.000 --> 23:29.800
night and day are the nine
men who perpetrated these

23:29.800 --> 23:31.600
frightful deeds
and a normal,

23:31.600 --> 23:35.100
kind hearted man who guards
his little family and toils

23:35.100 --> 23:36.100
through the day?"

23:36.100 --> 23:40.600
Okay, not too offensive.

23:40.600 --> 23:42.500
"We still have
savages abroad in the land,

23:42.500 --> 23:45.270
it seems.  Let us have the
solace of knowing that at

23:45.267 --> 23:48.767
least we have risen above
this justice of savages."

23:48.767 --> 23:49.967
A reference to
the fact that,

23:49.967 --> 23:53.897
that the mob that wanted to
kill the Scottsboro Boys did

23:53.900 --> 23:57.100
not succeed.  So
with an editorial,

23:57.100 --> 23:59.700
giving a collective pat on
the back to folks who did

23:59.700 --> 24:03.200
not resort to the same kind
of savagery those boys did. 

24:03.200 --> 24:06.900
But then you'd have
editorials like this: "The

24:06.900 --> 24:09.600
rape was the most atrocious
ever recorded in this part

24:09.600 --> 24:13.100
of the country, a wholesale
debauching of society,

24:13.100 --> 24:15.500
so horrible in its details
that all of the facts can

24:15.500 --> 24:18.700
never be printed.  It
savors of the jungle and the

24:18.700 --> 24:21.970
meanest African corruption."

24:21.967 --> 24:26.497
This is pre-trial media. 
Not very helpful for a

24:26.500 --> 24:30.700
defense case.  At seven A.M.

24:30.700 --> 24:34.500
on the day of
the first trial,

24:34.500 --> 24:37.500
thousands are lined
up, trying to get a seat

24:37.500 --> 24:41.500
inside.  And you--it's
hard--you can't really tell

24:41.500 --> 24:46.170
from this image, but as the,
the group goes this way,

24:46.167 --> 24:49.167
you can see it where the
electric lines are cutting

24:49.167 --> 24:51.297
across, the line
goes beyond the screen,

24:51.300 --> 24:53.970
beyond the, the actual
image.  Thousands are lined

24:53.967 --> 24:59.267
up hoping to get into the
courthouse to see justice be

24:59.267 --> 25:02.797
enacted.  Well, the
boys had no money,

25:02.800 --> 25:06.870
they're dirt poor.  They
have a defense attorney

25:06.867 --> 25:09.997
assigned to them who's
completely incompetent. 

25:10.000 --> 25:12.100
They face an all-white
jury.  This is Alabama

25:12.100 --> 25:15.200
practice.  No blacks are
allowed in the jury rolls. 

25:15.200 --> 25:18.870
And, within two weeks,
the boys are indicted,

25:18.867 --> 25:25.497
tried, and all but one are
sentenced to death.  The

25:25.500 --> 25:28.970
nature of the defense,
the speed of the trial,

25:28.967 --> 25:31.997
the fact that it was not
a jury of their peers,

25:32.000 --> 25:38.300
angered African Americans
and other parties.  One

25:38.300 --> 25:40.100
party got--was moved
to act very quickly,

25:40.100 --> 25:41.570
and that's a group called
the International Labor

25:41.567 --> 25:45.197
Defense, the ILD.  The
ILD is the legal arm of the

25:45.200 --> 25:50.970
Communist Party, and the
ILD comes to the Scottsboro

25:50.967 --> 25:52.997
Boys'--Boys'
rescue immediately,

25:55.200 --> 25:57.600
claiming they were given
an inadequate defense,

25:57.600 --> 25:59.670
and all these different
things already cited.  "This

25:59.667 --> 26:04.597
was not justice; you need
to have a retrial."  Now the

26:04.600 --> 26:07.370
Communist Party in the USA
has been around since 1919

26:07.367 --> 26:10.497
or so.  It's been reaching
out in sort of tentative

26:10.500 --> 26:12.100
ways to African
Americans, with,

26:12.100 --> 26:15.200
with, you know,
middling success really,

26:15.200 --> 26:20.200
increasing but middling. 
The NAACP's been around a

26:20.200 --> 26:23.100
solid decade longer, so one
would presume they're right

26:23.100 --> 26:25.570
there rushing to
defend them.  Well,

26:25.567 --> 26:29.897
the fact is, no.  The NAACP
holds back.  It holds back

26:29.900 --> 26:33.970
for a very important
reason.  It did not want to

26:33.967 --> 26:37.767
tar its own image by
defending possible rapists

26:37.767 --> 26:41.297
and individuals who clearly
did not adhere to the

26:41.300 --> 26:44.200
NAACP's middle class
ideals.  This is really

26:44.200 --> 26:47.400
important to think about--to
understand about the NAACP. 

26:47.400 --> 26:49.970
It was from its very
founding a middle class

26:49.967 --> 26:54.597
organization, dedicated to
uplift in legalistic and

26:54.600 --> 26:59.200
political ways,
assimilationist in its

26:59.200 --> 27:01.800
ideology,
assimilating to white norms,

27:01.800 --> 27:04.900
white--so-called white
middle class norms.  The

27:04.900 --> 27:06.670
Scottsboro Boys did
not fit that model,

27:06.667 --> 27:12.367
and the NAACP was afraid of
defending them for fear of a

27:12.367 --> 27:15.197
negative association.  The
Communist Party sees this as

27:15.200 --> 27:18.370
an, an
incredible opportunity,

27:18.367 --> 27:21.067
as a way to organize African
Americans to become more

27:21.067 --> 27:25.997
sympathetic to the Communist
Party.  The Communist Party

27:26.000 --> 27:28.000
claimed that defending
the Scottsboro Boys was

27:28.000 --> 27:30.300
tantamount to fighting
Southern racism and economic

27:30.300 --> 27:34.700
repression.  So the
Communists did not have

27:34.700 --> 27:36.600
super success with
African Americans,

27:36.600 --> 27:37.600
because they were
saying it's all just about

27:37.600 --> 27:38.600
economics.  And African
Americans are saying,

27:38.600 --> 27:40.400
"Well, race kind of matters
too in this country."  The

27:40.400 --> 27:44.400
Scottsboro Boys was the, was
the window of opportunity

27:44.400 --> 27:47.700
for the Communist Party to
broaden the scope of what

27:47.700 --> 27:49.600
it's going to talk about as
it relates to the African

27:49.600 --> 27:54.570
American experience.  This
transpires and the NAACP's

27:54.567 --> 27:57.897
livid.  It wants to be
the organization really

27:57.900 --> 28:00.470
dedicated to
addressing black concerns,

28:00.467 --> 28:05.297
and it's very concerned
that the Communist Party is

28:05.300 --> 28:09.300
involved, because the
radicalism of the Communist

28:09.300 --> 28:11.600
Party was, was the, was
about the last thing that's

28:11.600 --> 28:14.470
going to be welcomed in a
politically and socially

28:14.467 --> 28:19.097
conservative South.  So the
NAACP doesn't want to get

28:19.100 --> 28:23.200
involved because it--it
would be tarnished by these

28:23.200 --> 28:26.400
Boys' activities, but they
also recognized that with

28:26.400 --> 28:27.700
the Communist Party
getting involved,

28:27.700 --> 28:30.500
it might be a death, a death
sentence for these Boys,

28:30.500 --> 28:36.500
because no one wants to hear
from the Communists.  And

28:36.500 --> 28:38.700
certainly as the Communists
saw this as a way to open up

28:38.700 --> 28:43.000
a discussion about
Southern racism,

28:43.000 --> 28:46.300
NAACP thought
that, you know,

28:46.300 --> 28:48.800
"You're, you're pulling too
many things together here,

28:48.800 --> 28:52.170
and trying to--basically
you're trying to develop

28:52.167 --> 28:53.297
racial insubordination in
the South.  This is not the

28:53.300 --> 28:58.300
way to go."  The Scottsboro
Boys' case because--becomes

28:58.300 --> 29:01.700
the cause célèbre of the
1930s.  All of the issues

29:01.700 --> 29:03.600
we've talked about in this
course so far are wrapped up

29:03.600 --> 29:06.870
in this history:
manliness, civilization,

29:06.867 --> 29:09.297
culture, race,
class, power, politics,

29:09.300 --> 29:14.170
and protest, they're all
here.  The NAACP wanted more

29:14.167 --> 29:17.797
than anything else
for a fair trial,

29:21.667 --> 29:23.297
and began to think,
"Well, maybe we should get

29:23.300 --> 29:26.170
involved, because we might
be able to win long-term

29:26.167 --> 29:30.697
advantage for African
Americans by changing the

29:30.700 --> 29:32.700
way that trials are
organized in the South,

29:35.300 --> 29:39.300
since there were no
blacks on the jury rolls;

29:39.300 --> 29:43.200
that might help further
legal challenges and other

29:43.200 --> 29:45.470
movement opportunities
down the--down the road.

29:45.467 --> 29:49.597
And the NAACP, you know
on a quick side story,

29:49.600 --> 29:50.700
it knows the
South very well,

29:50.700 --> 29:51.900
far better than
the Communists did,

29:51.900 --> 29:55.770
who were mostly northern and
urban at this point.  And

29:55.767 --> 30:00.067
they reach out, the NAACP
reaches out quietly to try

30:00.067 --> 30:03.897
to find lawyers for the
Scottsboro Boys who are

30:03.900 --> 30:08.000
competent.  And they talked
to George--Congressman

30:08.000 --> 30:11.600
George Huddleston, someone
Alabamans considered a fiery

30:11.600 --> 30:14.970
left-winger.  But being
liberal on white issues in

30:14.967 --> 30:16.897
the South did not
necessarily translate into

30:16.900 --> 30:19.100
being a liberal on,
quote, "black issues" here. 

30:19.100 --> 30:22.600
Huddleston's response to
the quiet overture from the

30:22.600 --> 30:25.670
NAACP to support the
Scottsboro Boys' defense,

30:25.667 --> 30:29.197
and I quote here, "I do
not care whether they are

30:29.200 --> 30:32.000
innocent or guilty.  You
can't understand how we

30:32.000 --> 30:34.300
Southern gentlemen feel
about this--this question of

30:34.300 --> 30:37.170
relationship between
Negro men and white women."

30:37.167 --> 30:42.997
Simply put, the fact
that the Boys were on the

30:43.000 --> 30:45.700
freight--the same train
as the two white girls was

30:45.700 --> 30:46.700
enough for Huddleston.

30:46.700 --> 30:51.200
He couldn't touch it; it's
toxic.  So the very basic

30:51.200 --> 30:52.700
chronology of the
case is as follows.

30:52.700 --> 30:55.800
In 1931, the Boys were
arrested and convicted.  In

30:55.800 --> 30:59.600
1932, the Supreme Court
overturns their convictions,

30:59.600 --> 31:02.370
saying the Boys lacked
adequate counsel.  The fact

31:02.367 --> 31:03.897
that they're still alive is
really nothing short of a

31:03.900 --> 31:06.700
miracle, to be honest, and
this is through the ILD's

31:06.700 --> 31:10.900
efforts.  In
1930--in February 1933,

31:10.900 --> 31:13.000
Ruby Bates, one of the two
women who was found on the,

31:13.000 --> 31:16.300
the train, writes a letter
declaring that the boys

31:16.300 --> 31:20.370
never touched her, that's
it's all made up to protect

31:20.367 --> 31:26.367
their honor.  A month later,
a new trial begins and

31:30.100 --> 31:33.000
Samuel Leibowitz, an ILD
attorney from New York,

31:37.000 --> 31:39.300
offers new evidence, but is
considered to have been too

31:39.300 --> 31:41.270
tough on
Victoria Price, the,

31:41.267 --> 31:42.297
the hold out.

31:42.300 --> 31:45.800
And to her, to her
death, she claimed that this

31:45.800 --> 31:50.400
was--that she had been
raped.  Samuel Leibowitz

31:50.400 --> 31:52.600
presents new evidence, but
was considered too tough on

31:52.600 --> 31:55.270
Victoria Price, thus
violating Southern codes of

31:55.267 --> 31:57.867
honor.  After one
day of deliberation,

31:57.867 --> 32:00.297
Haywood Patterson, one
of the Scottsboro Boys,

32:00.300 --> 32:03.370
is found guilty.  The
prosecutor is saying openly,

32:03.367 --> 32:06.467
"Show them that Alabama
justice cannot be bought and

32:06.467 --> 32:09.867
sold with Jew money from
New York."  This is the

32:09.867 --> 32:13.697
atmosphere of this case. 
NAACP blames the I--the

32:13.700 --> 32:18.500
Communist Party and the
ILD for this conviction and

32:18.500 --> 32:20.370
that--and at that
point realizes,

32:20.367 --> 32:22.597
or decides, they have to get
involved if they're going

32:22.600 --> 32:24.070
to--if there's going to be
any hope of saving the rest

32:24.067 --> 32:29.767
of the boys.  By 1935, the
ILD and NAACP are formed

32:29.767 --> 32:34.397
together in a coalition
to defend the Boys.  The

32:34.400 --> 32:38.100
Communist Party's actions
through all of this gave it

32:38.100 --> 32:41.000
a new base of intellectual
and political support,

32:41.000 --> 32:46.000
within Harlem certainly, and
black America in general. 

32:46.000 --> 32:48.970
The Scottsboro Boys'
mothers go on a world tour,

32:48.967 --> 32:51.567
supported by the
Communist Party,

32:51.567 --> 32:53.697
to rally support
for their sons,

32:53.700 --> 32:55.900
but also for
workers' plights,

32:55.900 --> 32:59.600
for workers' plights around
the world.  And this is

32:59.600 --> 33:03.970
really--this point is
important.  The Communist

33:03.967 --> 33:06.997
Party makes major inroads
in Harlem in particular,

33:07.000 --> 33:08.800
and you can see
here in this image,

33:08.800 --> 33:14.300
this is a Scottsboro Boys
rally.  And above my hand

33:14.300 --> 33:18.700
here there's a big
sign, a big poster,

33:18.700 --> 33:20.400
and the words you can make
out there is talking about

33:20.400 --> 33:22.970
workers, and below it,
Scottsboro Boys.  The

33:22.967 --> 33:24.397
Scottsboro Boys
themselves were,

33:24.400 --> 33:26.200
were vagabonds,
hobos riding the rails,

33:26.200 --> 33:28.270
not uncommon during
this period in time.  The

33:28.267 --> 33:31.397
Communist Party gets
involved and as a way to

33:31.400 --> 33:33.470
sort of justify its
involvement certainly,

33:33.467 --> 33:36.967
but also to rally other
people around the cause of

33:36.967 --> 33:39.697
the Scottsboro Boys, starts
talking about them as,

33:39.700 --> 33:42.300
as workers.  "This is what
happens to workers in the

33:42.300 --> 33:46.200
United States under a
capitalist system."  The

33:46.200 --> 33:49.300
Scottsboro Boys' mothers are
sent on these international

33:49.300 --> 33:53.000
world tours and they're
coached about how they're

33:53.000 --> 33:55.100
going to talk about
the worker's plight,

33:55.100 --> 33:57.100
that the Communist Party
cares about the workers of

33:57.100 --> 34:00.400
the world, and at the end,
it's a demonstration--it's,

34:00.400 --> 34:03.200
it's proven by the way that
they're advocating on behalf

34:03.200 --> 34:08.200
of their boys.  As we start
to learn more about the

34:08.200 --> 34:09.900
Scottsboro Boys'
mothers' tour,

34:09.900 --> 34:14.370
their world tours, we're
discovering the extent to

34:14.367 --> 34:18.797
which they were--manipulated
is too strong a word--but

34:18.800 --> 34:20.370
how they were so
highly scripted,

34:20.367 --> 34:22.997
the mothers that is, in
terms of what they were

34:23.000 --> 34:25.600
supposed to say and not say
and how they were being sort

34:25.600 --> 34:27.200
of handled at all times to
make sure they stayed on

34:27.200 --> 34:28.770
message.  Now, be
that as it may,

34:28.767 --> 34:34.997
whether there was a level
of manipulation here or not,

34:35.000 --> 34:39.470
the fact is the Communist
Party is making incredible

34:39.467 --> 34:41.697
efforts on behalf of
the Scottsboro Boys,

34:41.700 --> 34:46.300
and the case is followed
everywhere.  And this

34:46.300 --> 34:48.670
actually--This is actually
another image from Harlem. 

34:48.667 --> 34:50.697
And this--I'm sorry you
can't really make it out

34:50.700 --> 34:52.670
here, but in a
sense, this is a,

34:52.667 --> 34:56.097
a, a version now of what
you'd see--what do they call

34:56.100 --> 34:58.370
those things in
Times Square,

34:58.367 --> 35:02.497
those scrolling messages? 
This is an update on the

35:02.500 --> 35:05.200
trial, when Patterson is
found guilty.  And there's a

35:05.200 --> 35:07.270
commentary written down in
chalk on this blackboard. 

35:07.267 --> 35:12.797
People are gathered
around it to find out what's

35:12.800 --> 35:16.200
happening with the
Scottsboro Boys.  Now what

35:16.200 --> 35:21.570
happens to them? 
They get arrested '31,

35:21.567 --> 35:28.697
a new case in, in
'32.  New cases in '33,

35:28.700 --> 35:33.900
in '33, a coalition in '35. 
More hearings were held. 

35:36.200 --> 35:39.800
Half the Boys are released
within a few years of the

35:39.800 --> 35:43.300
original incident.  The
other half languish behind

35:43.300 --> 35:47.900
bars, and the last one,
the last Scottsboro Boy is

35:47.900 --> 35:53.900
released, no longer a boy,
in 1950.  The Scottsboro

35:58.867 --> 36:05.297
Boys' cause became the focal
point of rallies across the

36:05.300 --> 36:09.700
country, in Harlem,
as these images show,

36:09.700 --> 36:14.070
black college campuses. 
The Scottsboro Boys' cause

36:14.067 --> 36:16.097
became the sites of
numerous political protests,

36:16.100 --> 36:21.100
and it really speaks to the
new era or new philosophy

36:21.100 --> 36:24.800
about black politics during
this era.  These rallies are

36:24.800 --> 36:29.300
not the rallies of Garvey's
Back to Africa dreams. 

36:29.300 --> 36:31.070
They're not the
silent protest marches,

36:31.067 --> 36:34.297
protesting against
lynchings.  The Scottsboro

36:34.300 --> 36:37.270
Boys' rallies, although they
are rich in symbolism about

36:37.267 --> 36:39.267
the black--the black
Boys being workers,

36:43.500 --> 36:48.900
they also start to change
political affiliations and

36:48.900 --> 36:53.570
movements on the ground. 
The Scottsboro Boys' rallies

36:53.567 --> 37:00.067
are, in so many ways,
explicitly political.  And

37:00.067 --> 37:01.697
these rallies, in this
way, are new to the,

37:01.700 --> 37:04.500
to the scene as far--far
as black Americans were

37:04.500 --> 37:08.400
concerned.  And we'll see
how this is articulated in

37:08.400 --> 37:12.670
movement politics in--in
our next lecture.  So taking

37:12.667 --> 37:14.997
together the Black Cabinet
and the Scottsboro Boys'

37:15.000 --> 37:20.670
case, represent two sides of
new political possibilities

37:20.667 --> 37:22.997
and new forms of political
expression within black

37:23.000 --> 37:26.000
America: high politics and,
for lack of a better phrase,

37:26.000 --> 37:32.800
the low politics, but
also becoming topics of

37:32.800 --> 37:35.400
international conversation
in terms of the black

37:35.400 --> 37:41.370
political situation.  It's
a time of change.  Oh one

37:41.367 --> 37:44.497
image here I forgot, before
I tell a quick story.  This

37:44.500 --> 37:46.270
is a poster.  I mean the
Scottsboro Boys went on

37:46.267 --> 37:47.267
tour.

37:47.267 --> 37:51.297
In 1937, Willie Robinson and
Eugene Williams came to New

37:51.300 --> 37:54.200
Haven to tell of the
"horrors of hell and the

37:54.200 --> 37:56.770
pleasures of heaven."  They
came to the Emanuel Baptist

37:56.767 --> 37:59.497
Church to talk about
their experiences in,

37:59.500 --> 38:01.100
in, Scotts--in the, in this
case.  It's a local story in

38:01.100 --> 38:06.500
this way, but it's part
of a larger international

38:06.500 --> 38:11.000
phenomenon.  Now I want to
switch gears quickly from

38:11.000 --> 38:16.000
the Black Cabinet and the
Scottsboro Boys to talk of

38:16.000 --> 38:18.670
the New Negro Alliance.  And
I've got six minutes to tell

38:18.667 --> 38:19.797
what I used to
do in a lecture,

38:19.800 --> 38:24.570
so hang on.  The New
Negro Alliance is a local

38:24.567 --> 38:26.667
articulation--this is
local being Washington,

38:26.667 --> 38:30.197
D.C.--of a larger
national phenomenon,

38:30.200 --> 38:32.700
"Don't buy where you can't
work" campaigns.  "Don't buy

38:32.700 --> 38:37.600
where you can't work"
campaigns.  And it speaks to

38:37.600 --> 38:40.400
this new sort of form of
political organizing that

38:40.400 --> 38:43.270
I'm suggesting is there with
the Scottsboro Boys and the,

38:43.267 --> 38:45.597
the Black Cabinet.  So I've
seen certain ways the New

38:45.600 --> 38:48.500
Negro Alliance pulling
together embodying this new

38:48.500 --> 38:49.500
political philosophy.

38:49.500 --> 38:53.770
That's why I want to tell
this story very quickly.

38:53.767 --> 38:56.797
So there are these campaigns
across the country where

38:56.800 --> 39:00.300
black--blacks would
organize and say,

39:00.300 --> 39:07.000
"We're not going to buy
at the local thrift store,

39:07.000 --> 39:09.200
because they won't employ
black workers in this black

39:09.200 --> 39:12.170
neighborhood.  In
August of 1933,

39:12.167 --> 39:13.697
this philosophy, this
political movement,

39:13.700 --> 39:15.270
lands in D.C.

39:15.267 --> 39:17.697
where the owner of the local
hamburger stand in black

39:17.700 --> 39:20.200
Washington, in, in the
area, U Street district near

39:20.200 --> 39:24.470
Howard--Howard University,
sort of the major black

39:24.467 --> 39:27.997
shopping enclave in the
city.  When the the guy who

39:28.000 --> 39:30.300
owns the hamburger grill
fires the two black workers

39:30.300 --> 39:32.600
he has and hires two
white kids in his place,

39:32.600 --> 39:34.300
wants to give them
jobs.  You know,

39:34.300 --> 39:37.000
everybody's desperate for
jobs since it's the Great

39:37.000 --> 39:40.070
Depression.  Within hours, a
picket line's formed at the

39:40.067 --> 39:43.167
hamburger stand, in the
spirit of "Don't buy where

39:43.167 --> 39:45.097
you can't work."  "We're not
going to patronize the store

39:45.100 --> 39:47.070
anymore, because they
won't let our type,

39:47.067 --> 39:51.997
our folks, black folks, work
in this place."  And this is

39:52.000 --> 39:54.100
a white-owned store, if
that part wasn't clear.  It

39:54.100 --> 39:59.100
should have been. 
Next thing you know,

39:59.100 --> 40:03.400
an--a group is organized. 
Two or three young men in

40:03.400 --> 40:06.770
college, just
heading out of college,

40:06.767 --> 40:09.267
called the New Negro
Alliance.  One of these

40:09.267 --> 40:11.397
"Don't buy where you
can't work" campaigns,

40:11.400 --> 40:12.970
and the city
becomes electrified,

40:12.967 --> 40:15.267
black
Wash--Washington that is,

40:15.267 --> 40:17.367
as New Negro--New Negro
Alliance starts holding

40:17.367 --> 40:21.567
rallies, putting up
posters.  This is about

40:21.567 --> 40:24.697
staying out of People's
drugstores.  You know,

40:24.700 --> 40:27.200
"They won't employ
blacks in the store,

40:27.200 --> 40:30.100
we're not going to shop
there any longer."  To all

40:30.100 --> 40:32.700
fine--to all
fair-minded people,

40:32.700 --> 40:37.100
justice is, is essential to
Americanism.  People's is

40:37.100 --> 40:38.200
not just being
racist; they're being

40:38.200 --> 40:44.670
anti-American.  Other
pair--posters would go up,

40:44.667 --> 40:47.797
fliers, again, about
People's Drugstore.  "Don't

40:47.800 --> 40:49.170
cheat on your race. 
Stay out of all People's

40:49.167 --> 40:52.497
Drugstores."  And so
equating People's Drugstores

40:52.500 --> 40:59.900
to an overseer whipping a
poor black laborer.  Now

40:59.900 --> 41:03.800
this is sort of the
angry political art of a,

41:03.800 --> 41:05.200
you know,
college-age students.

41:05.200 --> 41:08.970
You know how you guys are. 
But the New Negro Alliance

41:08.967 --> 41:10.767
really became remarkable for
the way that it brought in

41:10.767 --> 41:12.597
all these
different sectors of,

41:12.600 --> 41:17.200
of black Washington.  The
most respectable members of

41:17.200 --> 41:21.000
Washington start joining
picket lines.  "People's is

41:21.000 --> 41:24.170
unfair, no colored clerks in
colored neighborhoods.  Stay

41:24.167 --> 41:29.867
out."  In short order, the
New Negro Alliance starts

41:29.867 --> 41:34.597
getting success after
success.  The local dairy,

41:34.600 --> 41:39.100
People's
Drugstore, the cigar shop,

41:39.100 --> 41:41.400
all these places start
to hire black workers,

41:41.400 --> 41:44.570
but there's a hold out. 
The hold out is the Sanitary

41:44.567 --> 41:48.367
Grocery Company.  The
Sanitary Grocery Company is

41:48.367 --> 41:50.997
the most important
grocer in Washington,

41:51.000 --> 41:52.900
D.C., during the era.  It's
in black neighborhoods and

41:52.900 --> 41:58.270
white neighborhoods. 
Sanitary Grocery employed

41:58.267 --> 42:02.597
black workers, but as
back office workers,

42:02.600 --> 42:06.500
stockroom boys, or
janitors.  These were the

42:06.500 --> 42:08.970
lowest paying jobs in the
store and they were also the

42:08.967 --> 42:13.597
invisible jobs.  New Negro
Alliance comes up to them

42:13.600 --> 42:15.170
and says, you know, "The
best paying jobs in your

42:15.167 --> 42:17.267
store, aside from
being managers,

42:17.267 --> 42:20.197
are the cash register
clerks.  Why don't you have

42:20.200 --> 42:23.770
any blacks in those
positions?"  Sanitary

42:23.767 --> 42:25.067
Grocery gave
its explanation,

42:25.067 --> 42:28.597
gave its reasons, and the
New Negro Alliance puts up

42:28.600 --> 42:30.800
picket lines like this one. 
This is just one person,

42:30.800 --> 42:32.500
but starts putting up
picket lines around Sanitary

42:32.500 --> 42:36.670
Grocery.  Sanitary Grocery
is not going to fold like

42:36.667 --> 42:39.897
these other places fold, and
so starts its own political

42:39.900 --> 42:43.970
campaign with photographs
of all the black workers,

42:43.967 --> 42:45.367
you know, dressed
in nice uniforms,

42:45.367 --> 42:47.197
smiling for the
camera.  You know,

42:47.200 --> 42:48.800
"Sanitary Grocery
works--you know,

42:48.800 --> 42:50.100
we work for
Sanitary Grocery,

42:50.100 --> 42:54.070
support Sanitary Grocery." 
So they're trading fliers,

42:54.067 --> 43:01.997
pamphlets, media bout--you
know media shots for a--for

43:02.000 --> 43:08.900
a long time.  It starts
becoming a legal case.  The

43:08.900 --> 43:11.670
New Negro Alliance activists
reach out to Howard

43:11.667 --> 43:15.567
University Law School.  This
is a pre--pro--prologue to

43:15.567 --> 43:17.897
the lecture next week. 
They reach out to Howard

43:17.900 --> 43:20.000
University Law School,
and says to the law school

43:20.000 --> 43:22.770
students, "We need help
organizing a court case

43:22.767 --> 43:28.697
here."  And they start
getting legal counsel from

43:28.700 --> 43:32.900
some of the law students and
some of the law professors. 

43:32.900 --> 43:35.500
Because it's in D.C., a
court case can become a

43:35.500 --> 43:39.100
Supreme Court case very
quickly.  The le--the

43:39.100 --> 43:41.400
issue--the legal issue,
Sanitary Grocery Company is

43:41.400 --> 43:44.070
saying, "You cannot picket
in front of our store. 

43:44.067 --> 43:46.497
You're not an employee." 
Just like this minister is

43:46.500 --> 43:47.900
picketing in front of
People's.  He didn't work at

43:47.900 --> 43:50.300
People's.  Sanitary Grocery
is go--Sanitary Grocery is

43:50.300 --> 43:53.100
saying, "If you don't--if
you aren't an employee of

43:53.100 --> 43:55.400
the company, you aren't
allowed to picket."  New

43:55.400 --> 43:58.400
Negro Alliance said, "This
is a free speech issue.  We

43:58.400 --> 44:04.300
can picket."  And it becomes
a Supreme Court case.  And

44:04.300 --> 44:08.200
in 1938, aided by the
attorneys at--the attorneys

44:08.200 --> 44:10.300
in training and the, the
faculty at the law school at

44:10.300 --> 44:15.100
Howard, the Supreme Court
offers a decision in The New

44:15.100 --> 44:18.200
Negro Alliance versus
Sanitary Grocery Company. 

44:18.200 --> 44:21.000
And in that decision, it
says that it's protected

44:21.000 --> 44:25.000
speech, picketing that
is.  As long as you're not

44:25.000 --> 44:27.100
interfering with the
business at hand in terms of

44:27.100 --> 44:28.200
blocking the
entrance, let's say,

44:28.200 --> 44:32.200
it's protected
speech.  And as such,

44:32.200 --> 44:34.370
these rallies, these--the
work of the New Negro

44:34.367 --> 44:37.667
Alliance, is perfectly
constitutional.  It's a

44:37.667 --> 44:39.097
major boost to
the labor movement,

44:39.100 --> 44:45.800
as it happens, and it really
makes great changes for the

44:45.800 --> 44:47.200
New Negro
Alliance.  It further,

44:47.200 --> 44:49.970
you know,
underscores its importance.

44:49.967 --> 44:52.897
It also tells a really
interesting story at the

44:52.900 --> 44:56.200
end.  There's a coda that I
think is really humorous,

44:56.200 --> 44:57.800
but tells you something
about the way these things

44:57.800 --> 45:00.800
operate.  Sanitary
Grocery Company was the most

45:00.800 --> 45:02.770
important
grocer in the city,

45:02.767 --> 45:04.597
and the last thing it
wanted or needed was to be

45:04.600 --> 45:09.000
affiliated with a Supreme
Court case that it lost,

45:09.000 --> 45:13.300
especially losing to African
Americans.  So the Sanitary

45:13.300 --> 45:16.500
Grocery Company ceases doing
business under that name,

45:16.500 --> 45:21.370
and it becomes Safeway.  For
those of you who know about

45:21.367 --> 45:22.997
Safeway, yes.  I mean
Safeways are actually

45:23.000 --> 45:24.700
disappearing now, because
they're being bought up by

45:24.700 --> 45:27.100
other conglomerates,
but Safeway's a major

45:27.100 --> 45:30.000
chain--well, last I knew,
still a major chain in--in

45:30.000 --> 45:33.270
California.  And
they're still in the D.C.

45:33.267 --> 45:36.367
area, although they
are slowly going away,

45:36.367 --> 45:37.867
being bought up by,
last time I checked,

45:37.867 --> 45:38.967
which is a
couple of years ago,

45:38.967 --> 45:42.997
it was--it was owned by the
parent company of--that also

45:43.000 --> 45:44.600
owned Vond's,
Pavilion's, Dominic's,

45:44.600 --> 45:46.270
Carr's,
Randall's, Tom Thumb's,

45:46.267 --> 45:49.497
Grocery Works.  I
think it's a big Canadian

45:49.500 --> 45:51.600
conglomerate.  But this is,
I mean it's a humorous coda

45:51.600 --> 45:53.870
for those who know Safeway. 
There's no mention anywhere

45:53.867 --> 45:55.597
of Safeway's
history, corporate history,

45:55.600 --> 46:00.500
of this actual--actually
happening.  Corporations

46:00.500 --> 46:03.200
don't want to
be tainted with,

46:03.200 --> 46:06.400
well, lack of success or
really bad news.  And in the

46:06.400 --> 46:08.400
case of the "Don't buy where
you can't work" campaign in

46:08.400 --> 46:10.970
Washington, D.C., they
had both.  And so Sanitary

46:10.967 --> 46:13.497
Grocery Company ceased to
exist.  It started operating

46:13.500 --> 46:16.700
under a new name.  This is
the potential of the new

46:16.700 --> 46:19.400
black politics:
high politics,

46:19.400 --> 46:22.100
low politics, somewhere
in the middle politics,

46:22.100 --> 46:24.600
and you're going to start
seeing in tomorrow's lecture

46:24.600 --> 46:26.270
and in the, in the lectures
over the next couple of

46:26.267 --> 46:30.497
weeks, a new kind of
organizing mentality,

46:30.500 --> 46:33.000
operating at all levels,
that starts to change the

46:33.000 --> 46:35.770
landscape of the American
scene.  Thanks so much.