5fish
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jul 28, 2019
- Messages
- 10,737
- Reaction score
- 4,569
It seems these great government programs of the mid 20th century were endemic with racism. We think we have rid our society a systemic racisms. it ia a long article...
The Social Security Act was also racially coded—in part because of the power of Southern Democrats in the New Deal coalition. Southern politicians, reported one architect of the new law, were determined to block any 'entering wedge' for federal interference with the handling of the Negro question. Southern employers worried that federal benefits would discourage black workers from taking low-paying jobs in their fields, factories, and kitchens. Thus neither agricultural laborers nor domestic servants—a pool of workers that included at least 60 percent of the nation's black population—were covered by old-age insurance.
snip...
Before and after 1935, the New Deal was always dependent upon the votes of conservative Southern Democrats … but Southerners saw the labor and welfare legislation of 1935 as a clear threat to Southern race relations and economic competitiveness. In many respects, Southern legislators were able to shape federal law (winning both the exemption of agricultural and domestic workers from Social Security and local control over its administration,
snip...
A bit of backdrop. In the book, Katznelson notes that the Social Security Act of 1935 might never have passed without support from the 141 Democrats from Southern states. And, the book strongly implies, many of those Democrats only supported the bill after it got tweaked in committee so that it excluded farmworkers and maids — who represented two-thirds of black workers in the South at the time.
Snip...
As a result of the change, 65 percent of the African American workforce was excluded from the initial Social Security program (as well as 27 percent of white workers). Many of these workers were covered only later on, when Social Security was expanded in 1950 and then in 1954.
snip...
Now, Katznelson still makes a detailed case that a large number of other New Deal programs in the 1930s were purposefully altered by Southern Democrats so that they both "brought much needed funding to their poverty-stricken region while protecting the character of [the South's] racial arrangements." But with Social Security, at least, there's a strong counterargument that this wasn't ever the explicit aim.
The Decision to Exclude Agricultural and Domestic Workers from the 1935 Social Security Act
Social Security Administration Research, Statistics, and Policy Analysis
www.ssa.gov
The Social Security Act was also racially coded—in part because of the power of Southern Democrats in the New Deal coalition. Southern politicians, reported one architect of the new law, were determined to block any 'entering wedge' for federal interference with the handling of the Negro question. Southern employers worried that federal benefits would discourage black workers from taking low-paying jobs in their fields, factories, and kitchens. Thus neither agricultural laborers nor domestic servants—a pool of workers that included at least 60 percent of the nation's black population—were covered by old-age insurance.
snip...
Before and after 1935, the New Deal was always dependent upon the votes of conservative Southern Democrats … but Southerners saw the labor and welfare legislation of 1935 as a clear threat to Southern race relations and economic competitiveness. In many respects, Southern legislators were able to shape federal law (winning both the exemption of agricultural and domestic workers from Social Security and local control over its administration,
snip...
A bit of backdrop. In the book, Katznelson notes that the Social Security Act of 1935 might never have passed without support from the 141 Democrats from Southern states. And, the book strongly implies, many of those Democrats only supported the bill after it got tweaked in committee so that it excluded farmworkers and maids — who represented two-thirds of black workers in the South at the time.
Snip...
As a result of the change, 65 percent of the African American workforce was excluded from the initial Social Security program (as well as 27 percent of white workers). Many of these workers were covered only later on, when Social Security was expanded in 1950 and then in 1954.
snip...
Now, Katznelson still makes a detailed case that a large number of other New Deal programs in the 1930s were purposefully altered by Southern Democrats so that they both "brought much needed funding to their poverty-stricken region while protecting the character of [the South's] racial arrangements." But with Social Security, at least, there's a strong counterargument that this wasn't ever the explicit aim.
