WEBVTT 00:02.500 --> 00:03.970 For the purpose of this week, 00:03.967 --> 00:08.497 we'll essentially be resting in the 1930s, 00:08.500 --> 00:13.670 essentially.  It's a week's worth of lecture dealing 00:13.667 --> 00:18.697 with the Great Depression.  In October of 1929, 00:18.700 --> 00:22.100 the stock market crashes, and in a quick cascade of 00:22.100 --> 00:23.800 events, Herbert Hoover, then the President, 00:23.800 --> 00:26.670 finds himself out of office and Franklin Roosevelt is 00:26.667 --> 00:29.997 elected promising a New Deal, 00:30.000 --> 00:33.400 a New Deal for America.  This week's lectures are 00:33.400 --> 00:36.500 about the Great Depression, Roosevelt's New Deal, 00:36.500 --> 00:40.000 and several critical moments and developments related to 00:40.000 --> 00:43.070 the African American experience.  And I want you 00:43.067 --> 00:44.797 to--We should all start with a basic understanding of my 00:44.800 --> 00:49.170 approach to the nineteen--to the 1930s.  If the twenties 00:49.167 --> 00:52.597 can be understood as the decade of the New Negro, 00:52.600 --> 00:55.900 a new sort of social and cultural and political world 00:55.900 --> 01:03.700 view, the 1930s needs to be understood as a decade of 01:03.700 --> 01:08.170 retrenchment and political advancement.  We've seen 01:08.167 --> 01:10.867 this before, going into the late nineteenth century and 01:10.867 --> 01:12.767 into the turn of the twentieth century.  And 01:12.767 --> 01:15.697 we're just seeing a--a new cycle of people gathering 01:15.700 --> 01:19.070 themselves up and articulating new visions and 01:19.067 --> 01:22.497 new agendas, or new, new methods to pursue on these 01:22.500 --> 01:26.470 agendas for the future.  As far as retrenchment, 01:26.467 --> 01:29.597 after so many cultural celebrations and giddiness 01:29.600 --> 01:31.000 of the Jazz Age, as, you know, 01:31.000 --> 01:34.100 the soldiers that have returned, 01:34.100 --> 01:37.400 the economic downturn made a different--not new really, 01:37.400 --> 01:39.300 but a different set of priorities come to the 01:39.300 --> 01:44.300 surface.  The economy's in tatters and African 01:44.300 --> 01:47.800 Americans are the hardest hit.  And as far as 01:47.800 --> 01:49.970 political advancement is concerned, 01:49.967 --> 01:53.067 along with the retrenchment comes a range of political 01:53.067 --> 01:57.797 responses to these setbacks that demonstrate an 01:57.800 --> 02:02.700 independence of spirit among African Americans as far as 02:02.700 --> 02:09.000 political possibilities.  Now this retrenchment and 02:09.000 --> 02:11.970 political advancement, I don't want to make too much 02:11.967 --> 02:13.497 of a big deal.  One can identify these themes in any 02:13.500 --> 02:16.400 particular decade or moment in time of course. 02:16.400 --> 02:18.100 But there is--there's something very special I 02:18.100 --> 02:22.000 think about the 1930s as far as these aspects are 02:22.000 --> 02:26.700 concerned.  The 1930s forms the backdrop for the modern 02:26.700 --> 02:30.000 civil rights movement, that movement that is popularly 02:30.000 --> 02:32.400 thought of as occurring from Brown v. 02:32.400 --> 02:36.770 Board's decision in 1954 up until King's assassination.  02:36.767 --> 02:39.897 As you'll come to understand very quickly, 02:39.900 --> 02:45.270 that notion, boundedness of the civil rights movement, 02:45.267 --> 02:48.197 is really sort of discarded by historians at this 02:48.200 --> 02:50.900 point.  And many historians are talking about a long 02:50.900 --> 02:53.700 civil rights movement, a movement that predates the 02:53.700 --> 02:59.970 Supreme Court decision and goes back a decade or more.  02:59.967 --> 03:03.597 I'll talk more about this in a--in a week or so, 03:03.600 --> 03:07.770 this phenomenon of the long civil rights movement.  But 03:07.767 --> 03:10.197 regardless of where one decides to sort of start the 03:10.200 --> 03:11.700 civil rights movement, you need to understand the 03:11.700 --> 03:14.100 thirties is clearly the seedbed, 03:14.100 --> 03:17.070 the moment where a whole new range of political 03:17.067 --> 03:19.597 strategies are going to be articulated, 03:19.600 --> 03:23.700 and these grow out of this moment of retrenchment, 03:23.700 --> 03:27.900 trying to gathers--gather oneself together in light of 03:27.900 --> 03:33.100 economic despair.  Now I want to cover the story of 03:33.100 --> 03:34.100 the 1930s.  I mean for any era, 03:34.100 --> 03:37.900 there's too many different stories one could tell, 03:37.900 --> 03:40.100 but I want to explore the themes of retrenchment and 03:40.100 --> 03:44.000 political advancement in the 1930s via a number of 03:44.000 --> 03:47.300 stories.  And this covers this lecture and Wednesday's 03:47.300 --> 03:51.400 lecture.  I'll be talking about the Black Cabinet, 03:51.400 --> 03:56.500 the Scottsboro Boys, the New Negro Alliance, 03:56.500 --> 04:00.000 the National Negro Congress, Marian Anderson and the 04:00.000 --> 04:07.200 March on Washington movement.  This is a series 04:07.200 --> 04:11.500 of different--different kinds of events that really 04:11.500 --> 04:13.800 marked, marked us right through the 1930s with the 04:13.800 --> 04:16.770 March on Washington movement taking shape in 1941.  04:19.967 --> 04:22.597 Throughout this whole era, or this era--the umbrella 04:22.600 --> 04:24.000 covering this era, is the New Deal, 04:24.000 --> 04:27.500 and that's what I want to start off with very quickly, 04:27.500 --> 04:29.900 so we have just a--sort of a shared understanding of what 04:29.900 --> 04:35.200 the New Deal is doing and why it's important.  So the 04:35.200 --> 04:37.470 stock market crashes in October, 04:37.467 --> 04:42.197 '29.  The country's economically destabilized, 04:42.200 --> 04:44.470 millions are thrown out of work.  Black and white 04:44.467 --> 04:47.397 unemployment skyrocketed, but blacks are particularly 04:47.400 --> 04:52.600 hard hit.  Job shortages and old-fashioned racism combine 04:52.600 --> 04:55.700 in such a way that a familiar--familiar rallying 04:55.700 --> 04:59.800 cry would be hear--heard at job lines and such when a 04:59.800 --> 05:02.300 black person showed up.  And I'm quoting, 05:02.300 --> 05:05.400 "No jobs for niggers until every white man has a job."  05:05.400 --> 05:09.700 A time of economic stress, good, 05:09.700 --> 05:12.270 old-fashioned racism makes itself known loud and 05:12.267 --> 05:16.797 clear.  Even in such major cities like Atlanta, 05:16.800 --> 05:20.470 some sixty-five percent of, of employable blacks needed 05:20.467 --> 05:24.097 public assistance.  This is economic devastation. 05:24.100 --> 05:26.400 Hoover believed in volunteerism and thought the 05:26.400 --> 05:28.770 economy would turn itself around without government 05:28.767 --> 05:31.297 intervention.  But by the time he realized the scope 05:31.300 --> 05:34.200 of the problem, he found himself losing the 05:34.200 --> 05:36.000 presidential election.  FDR's elected, 05:36.000 --> 05:39.600 promises a New Deal.  Now the New Deal's a massive 05:39.600 --> 05:43.570 federal experiment in big government.  It was an 05:43.567 --> 05:46.097 alphabet soup, as, as historians refer to it, 05:46.100 --> 05:47.700 an alphabet soup of agencies, 05:47.700 --> 05:50.100 each representing different forms of federal 05:50.100 --> 05:52.300 intervention.  And I'm putting a--sev--a whole 05:52.300 --> 05:54.370 bunch of them, not all of them, 05:54.367 --> 05:58.397 up on the board here, and I'm going to very quickly go 05:58.400 --> 06:00.870 through them to help you understand the scope of the 06:00.867 --> 06:05.497 change.  You have the FSA, or the Farm Security 06:05.500 --> 06:07.600 Administration, and the Agricultural 06:07.600 --> 06:10.400 Adjustment--Adjustment Administration, 06:10.400 --> 06:12.900 two that are organizations that are very important to 06:12.900 --> 06:15.300 African Americans, aside from being important to all 06:15.300 --> 06:18.400 Americans, because African Americans are still 06:18.400 --> 06:20.300 predominantly--although it's shifting--still 06:20.300 --> 06:24.470 predominantly an agricultural population.  06:24.467 --> 06:26.167 They had the National Recovery Act, 06:26.167 --> 06:30.667 the NRA--that and I'll get into a little more about the 06:30.667 --> 06:33.097 NRA, it's very important, in a few minutes--that among 06:33.100 --> 06:35.370 other things establishes the minimum wage, 06:35.367 --> 06:37.767 or establishes minimum wages is the better way to put 06:37.767 --> 06:42.867 it.  And there's a very curious relationship with 06:42.867 --> 06:44.967 African American--African Americans and the jobs that 06:44.967 --> 06:49.767 they hold.  The Tennessee Valley Authority and the 06:49.767 --> 06:54.667 Rural--Rural Electric--Electrification 06:54.667 --> 06:56.497 Administration, these are up here really to point out 06:56.500 --> 06:58.700 what kind of radical change the New Deal is really all 06:58.700 --> 07:01.970 about.  This is an era when they're actually bringing 07:01.967 --> 07:04.667 electricity for the first time to large parts of the 07:04.667 --> 07:11.397 country through, through the TVA and hydroelectricity and 07:11.400 --> 07:15.170 rural electrification.  It's a radical reordering of how 07:15.167 --> 07:18.597 the country's going to work.  National Youth 07:18.600 --> 07:22.000 Administration, NYA, which as we'll see, 07:22.000 --> 07:24.570 I'll talk briefly about it later on, 07:24.567 --> 07:27.767 is one of these many administrations that has a 07:27.767 --> 07:31.697 Negro division, and the Negro division becomes 07:31.700 --> 07:34.100 important.  I mean I'll, I'll--You can bookmark it 07:34.100 --> 07:37.200 for the moment.  Civilian Conservation Corps, 07:37.200 --> 07:42.000 the CCC, literally putting mostly men to work by 07:42.000 --> 07:44.900 digging ditches, planting trees, 07:44.900 --> 07:48.300 giving them some sort of job to do so they can get some 07:48.300 --> 07:50.900 wage from the federal government, 07:50.900 --> 07:54.170 so they can feed themselves.  Public Works 07:54.167 --> 07:56.467 Administration, the Works Progress Administration, 07:56.467 --> 08:02.097 the PWA turns into the WPA, doing work on public 08:02.100 --> 08:06.970 projects.  Social Security is established, 08:06.967 --> 08:10.167 the Securities and Exchange Commission is established, 08:10.167 --> 08:12.897 the FDIC, the Federal Emergency Relief 08:12.900 --> 08:16.570 Administration.  All of these are brand new during 08:16.567 --> 08:19.197 this era.  So what we consider the essential work 08:19.200 --> 08:21.700 of the federal government is, 08:21.700 --> 08:24.600 in our contemporary moment is essentially created 08:24.600 --> 08:31.100 during the New Deal.  All is a radical attempt to end the 08:31.100 --> 08:35.000 Great Depression.  And we have been wrestling, 08:35.000 --> 08:37.300 we, political leaders, activists, 08:37.300 --> 08:39.800 have been wrestling with the legacy of the New Deal ever 08:39.800 --> 08:43.700 since.  Now the point of listing all of these 08:43.700 --> 08:47.800 agencies up here is not just that many of these had a 08:47.800 --> 08:51.400 direct effect on African American employment and, 08:51.400 --> 08:53.400 as you'll see, political possibility, 08:55.500 --> 08:58.800 but it also will bring into--I'm sort of 08:58.800 --> 09:02.100 for--projecting here a bit--it will underscore 09:05.100 --> 09:08.370 changes--how can I...not changes--articulations, 09:08.367 --> 09:11.597 new articulations of changes in terms of the limits of 09:11.600 --> 09:14.000 the federal government.  We'll see during our lecture 09:14.000 --> 09:15.300 of the civil rights movement, 09:15.300 --> 09:18.200 there's a core issue and that's the fed--limits of 09:18.200 --> 09:20.700 federal government versus states' government.  With 09:20.700 --> 09:22.600 the explosion in the size of the federal government, 09:22.600 --> 09:24.870 you can see this problem looming ever larger on the 09:24.867 --> 09:30.497 horizon.  Now very basic questions, 09:30.500 --> 09:32.000 was the New Deal successful?  It's all an 09:32.000 --> 09:35.100 experiment.  And economically, 09:35.100 --> 09:38.900 the answer is mixed.  Yes, there is no doubt, 09:38.900 --> 09:40.400 it saved millions from starvation, 09:40.400 --> 09:42.570 I mean, literally saving folks from starving to 09:42.567 --> 09:47.067 death.  But the economy doesn't actually turn around 09:47.067 --> 09:48.067 until the U.S. 09:48.067 --> 09:50.797 begins arming Europe as it heads toward Second World 09:50.800 --> 09:52.900 War.  When the U.S. 09:52.900 --> 09:56.300 becomes a military factory and then itself becomes 09:56.300 --> 09:57.700 involved in the Second World War, 09:57.700 --> 10:00.700 that's when the economy turns--absolutely booms and 10:00.700 --> 10:03.600 it turns around at that point.  So economically it 10:03.600 --> 10:06.100 saves people from starving but it doesn't turn the 10:06.100 --> 10:08.100 economy around.  Politically, 10:08.100 --> 10:12.600 it's much more complicated.  From an institutional 10:12.600 --> 10:15.870 standpoint, there's no doubt that the New Deal's 10:15.867 --> 10:18.397 significant.  Whether it's successful I guess might be 10:18.400 --> 10:21.800 an interesting word to wrest with here because, 10:21.800 --> 10:23.900 as I said before, it makes the modern American 10:23.900 --> 10:27.300 political state.  It does it in the space of just a few 10:27.300 --> 10:31.200 years.  Now from the standpoint of the African 10:31.200 --> 10:33.800 American experience, was the New Deal successful in terms 10:33.800 --> 10:38.300 of politics here?  There's a real mixed record. 10:38.300 --> 10:42.470 On the ground, too many federal programs were left 10:42.467 --> 10:45.597 to local administrators to run. 10:45.600 --> 10:47.900 So you have--and this is where something like the 10:47.900 --> 10:49.200 Farm Security Administration, 10:49.200 --> 10:51.300 Agricultural Administration--Adjustment 10:51.300 --> 10:54.000 Administration, are really important.  Federal policy 10:54.000 --> 10:55.400 is saying you're not going to discriminate.  10:55.400 --> 10:58.170 Everybody's going to get a sh--a cut of this New Deal.  11:00.767 --> 11:04.697 But the bailouts are handed out at the local level, 11:04.700 --> 11:06.600 at the local Farm Bureau, let's say, 11:06.600 --> 11:10.000 and localized racial practices simply just don't 11:10.000 --> 11:14.400 disappear.  So you have growing out of the New Deal, 11:14.400 --> 11:18.600 or during the New Deal, American farms being saved, 11:18.600 --> 11:21.600 but the farms that are being saved overwhelmingly are 11:21.600 --> 11:28.200 those that are white-owned and not black-owned.  So 11:28.200 --> 11:29.970 when you think of the New Deal from the standpoint of 11:29.967 --> 11:31.297 did it benefit African Americans, 11:31.300 --> 11:33.870 you can look at federal--at, at the sort of national 11:33.867 --> 11:38.797 policy and see something, non-discrimination pacts, 11:38.800 --> 11:40.400 but local level's where it really matters, 11:40.400 --> 11:48.200 you see a very different story there.  Now just as 11:48.200 --> 11:51.200 some of these--many of these New Deal programs were doing 11:51.200 --> 11:53.870 something important by being non-discriminatory in their 11:53.867 --> 11:58.597 language, and then therefore at the local level being 11:58.600 --> 12:01.400 more complicated, they weren't all perfect at the 12:01.400 --> 12:03.600 federal level of articulation.  And this is 12:03.600 --> 12:06.700 where the NRA, the National Recovery Administration, 12:06.700 --> 12:10.000 really needs to be understood.  As I said 12:10.000 --> 12:13.470 before, the NRA designed a set of minimum wages, 12:13.467 --> 12:17.397 basically wage standards, across the country.  So, 12:17.400 --> 12:22.000 for instance, if you are rolling steel, 12:22.000 --> 12:27.400 you're going to get paid a certain minimum wage.  If 12:27.400 --> 12:30.670 you are--boy, of the billion and a half jobs, 12:30.667 --> 12:33.297 I can't think of anything right now.  If 12:33.300 --> 12:39.300 you're--[laughs] God, pick a job--you are doing some 12:41.667 --> 12:43.967 other mechanized thing, how's that for a complete 12:43.967 --> 12:46.397 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 12:51.800 --> 12:54.200 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 13:01.167 --> 13:04.467 sector.  It does not set minimum wages for people 13:04.467 --> 13:09.667 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 14:01.900 --> 14:03.670 an institutional standpoint, there's no doubt, 14:03.667 --> 14:04.697 it's important, it's critical, 14:04.700 --> 14:07.300 it's saving lives.  When it comes to black life on the 14:07.300 --> 14:08.300 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, 14:33.900 --> 14:41.670 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 14:59.400 --> 15:02.670 political symbolism of the New Deal for blacks came 15:02.667 --> 15:06.897 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 15:18.000 --> 15:20.670 to understand that part--an unofficial collection of 15:20.667 --> 15:26.497 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.