1935

The Federal Housing Administration's 1935 and 1936 Underwriting Manuals explicitly rated neighborhoods by racial composition. Neighborhoods with Black residents received 'D' (red) ratings classified as 'Hazardous,' making them ineligible for FHA-backed mortgages. The manual stated that 'infiltration of inharmonious racial groups' degraded property values. This federal policy systematized and nationalized redlining, denying an entire generation of Black families access to the primary wealth-building vehicle of homeownership. Between 1934 and 1962, the FHA backed $120 billion in home loans; less than 2% went to Black borrowers.

The Federal Housing Administration's 1935 and 1936 Underwriting Manuals explicitly rated neighborhoods by racial composition. Neighborhoods with Black residents received 'D' (red) ratings classified as 'Hazardous,' making them ineligible for FHA-backed mortgages. The manual stated that 'infiltration of inharmonious racial groups' degraded property values. Surveyors were instructed to mark any area with even one Black resident as high-risk. This federal policy systematized and nationalized redlining, denying an entire generation of Black families access to the wealth-building vehicle of homeownership. Reverse redlining funneled predatory contract sales into these same neighborhoods.

The Home Owners' Loan Corporation created residential security maps for cities nationwide, color-coding Black neighborhoods red ('D') as hazardous for mortgage lending. HOLC appraisers used language like 'infiltration of negro' in their assessments. The maps locked Black families out of federally backed home ownership for decades.

The Home Owners' Loan Corporation (HOLC) produced 'residential security maps' for over 200 American cities between 1935 and 1940. These maps used four color grades — green (best), blue (still desirable), yellow (declining), and red (hazardous) — to rate neighborhoods for mortgage risk. Black neighborhoods in every city were consistently rated 'D' (red) regardless of the physical condition of housing. These maps were shared with private lenders and the FHA, institutionalizing racial exclusion from mortgage credit across the entire country and preventing a generation of Black wealth accumulation.

The Social Security Act of 1935 excluded agricultural workers and domestic servants from its old-age insurance and unemployment provisions. These exclusions, insisted upon by Southern Democratic congressmen, removed roughly 65–75% of Black workers from coverage. In some Southern states, over 80% of Black workers were in excluded categories. The exclusions were not race-neutral accidents but deliberate political trades to win Southern support for New Deal legislation. Agricultural and domestic workers were not fully incorporated into Social Security until 1954.

The Social Security Act exempted agricultural laborers and domestic servants from old-age insurance and unemployment coverage. In the South, roughly 65% of Black workers held these jobs. The exclusion was the price of Southern Democratic votes — a structural racial carve-out embedded in the New Deal's signature achievement.

The Social Security Act of 1935 excluded agricultural workers and domestic servants from its old-age insurance and unemployment provisions. These exclusions, insisted upon by Southern Democratic congressmen, removed roughly 65–75% of Black workers from coverage. In some Southern states, over 80% of Black workers were in excluded categories. The exclusions were not race-neutral accidents but deliberate political trades to win Southern support for New Deal legislation. Agricultural and domestic workers were not fully incorporated into Social Security until 1954.

Howard Law Dean Charles Hamilton Houston became NAACP special counsel and devised the long-term strategy of attacking segregation through graduate and professional school cases before mounting the full challenge to Plessy. He trained Thurgood Marshall and documented Southern school inequality in filmed evidence.

Beginning in the mid-1930s, as FHA redlining blocked Black buyers from conventional mortgages, Chicago speculators developed 'contract buying' — selling homes to Black buyers at inflated prices under contracts that required full payment before title transferred, with no equity accruing. A single missed payment meant eviction with no refund of years of payments. Sellers including Lou Fushanis operated portfolios of hundreds of properties. Beryl Satter's research documented families paying $14,500 for homes worth $12,000 via contracts while comparable FHA mortgages would have cost $10,000. Contract buyers collectively paid an estimated $3.2 billion in excess wealth extraction in Chicago alone between 1950 and 1970.

The Costigan-Wagner Anti-Lynching Bill, introduced by Senators Edward Costigan (CO) and Robert Wagner (NY) in 1934 and 1935, would have made lynching a federal crime. President Roosevelt refused to publicly endorse the bill, telling NAACP head Walter White in private meetings that he could not risk losing Southern Democratic votes needed for his economic agenda. Eleanor Roosevelt supported the bill privately. Southern senators filibustered it to death in 1935. Between 1882 and 1968, Congress failed to pass anti-lynching legislation despite over 200 attempts. A federal anti-lynching law was not enacted until 2022.

The Costigan-Wagner Anti-Lynching Bill, introduced by Senators Edward Costigan (CO) and Robert Wagner (NY) in 1934 and 1935, would have made lynching a federal crime. President Roosevelt refused to publicly endorse the bill, telling NAACP head Walter White in private meetings that he could not risk losing Southern Democratic votes needed for his economic agenda. Eleanor Roosevelt supported the bill privately. Southern senators filibustered it to death in 1935. A federal anti-lynching law was not enacted until 2022 — 87 years after this defeat.

The National Labor Relations Act guaranteed collective bargaining rights but did not prohibit unions from excluding Black workers by constitution or contract. Craft unions in the AFL used the law's protections to monopolize skilled trades while barring Black membership, locking Black workers out of New Deal labor gains.

After a 12-year organizing campaign led by A. Philip Randolph, the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters won AFL affiliation and recognition from the Pullman Company — the largest employer of Black workers in America. The contract reduced hours and raised wages, creating a stable Black middle class in dozens of cities.

After a 12-year organizing campaign led by A. Philip Randolph, the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters won AFL affiliation and recognition from the Pullman Company — the largest employer of Black workers in America. The contract reduced hours from 400 to 240 monthly and raised wages, creating a stable Black middle class in dozens of cities.

On March 19, 1935, a riot erupted in Harlem after rumors spread that police had killed a Puerto Rican teenager, Lino Rivera, who had been caught shoplifting. Three people were killed, hundreds injured, and $2 million in property damage resulted. A mayoral commission headed by E. Franklin Frazier found that the riot's root causes were discrimination in relief, unemployment, police brutality, and exclusion from labor unions. The riot was the first major urban uprising of the Depression era and documented the failure of New Deal programs to address Black poverty.

In Norris v. Alabama (1935), the Supreme Court unanimously reversed Clarence Norris's death sentence, finding that Black citizens had been systematically excluded from Alabama jury rolls in violation of the Equal Protection Clause. Chief Justice Hughes noted that no Black person had served on a jury in Jackson County in living memory despite a substantial Black population. The ruling was a landmark precedent against discriminatory jury selection, though Southern states continued to evade it through facially neutral exclusion mechanisms for decades.

The unemployment insurance provisions of the Social Security Act of 1935, like the old-age insurance provisions, excluded agricultural and domestic workers, again disproportionately removing Black workers from coverage. This meant that when Black workers lost jobs — at far higher rates than white workers during the Depression — they had no unemployment insurance safety net. State-level administration of relief programs allowed Southern states to administer benefits discriminatorily; Black applicants were routinely denied or offered less than white applicants for identical situations. The exclusions were not corrected until the 1954 and later amendments to the Social Security Act.

The unemployment insurance provisions of the Social Security Act of 1935, like the old-age insurance provisions, excluded agricultural and domestic workers, disproportionately removing Black workers from coverage. When Black workers lost jobs — at far higher rates than white workers during the Depression — they had no unemployment insurance safety net. State-level administration of relief programs allowed Southern states to discriminate; Black applicants were routinely denied or offered less than white applicants. The exclusions were not corrected until 1954 and later amendments to the Social Security Act.

Mary McLeod Bethune founded the National Council of Negro Women on December 5, 1935, as an umbrella organization coordinating the work of 28 Black women's organizations with over 800,000 members. Bethune was simultaneously director of Negro Affairs in FDR's National Youth Administration — the highest federal position held by a Black person at that time — and organized the 'Black Cabinet,' an informal network of Black appointees who coordinated to fight racial discrimination within New Deal agencies. Bethune used her White House access to document exclusions and fight for inclusion, operating within a system while challenging it.

Mary McLeod Bethune founded the National Council of Negro Women on December 5, 1935, as an umbrella organization coordinating the work of 28 Black women's organizations with over 800,000 members. Bethune was simultaneously director of Negro Affairs in FDR's National Youth Administration — the highest federal position held by a Black person at that time — and organized the 'Black Cabinet,' an informal network of Black appointees coordinating to fight racial discrimination within New Deal agencies.

Zora Neale Hurston, trained in anthropology under Franz Boas at Columbia, conducted fieldwork collecting Black folklore, music, and oral traditions in the South in the early 1930s. Her 1935 collection 'Mules and Men' and her 1937 novel 'Their Eyes Were Watching God' documented Black Southern culture with unprecedented dignity and complexity, insisting on Black interior life against a white media landscape that denied it. Hurston challenged the assumption that Black culture had to be translated through white academic frameworks to be legitimate.

The New Deal's WPA Federal Writers' Project, Federal Art Project, and Federal Theatre Project provided employment and creative infrastructure for hundreds of Black artists, writers, and performers, despite operating segregated units in the South. The Negro Unit of the Federal Theatre Project produced acclaimed productions including 'Voodoo Macbeth.' Richard Wright, Ralph Ellison, Zora Neale Hurston, and Jacob Lawrence all worked for WPA projects. The Slave Narrative Collection, produced 1936–1938, preserved first-hand testimony of over 2,300 formerly enslaved people.

The New Deal's Works Progress Administration Federal Writers' Project, Federal Art Project, and Federal Theatre Project provided employment and creative infrastructure for hundreds of Black artists, writers, and performers, despite operating segregated units in the South. The Negro Unit of the Federal Theatre Project, directed by John Houseman and Orson Welles, produced 'Voodoo Macbeth' and other acclaimed productions. Richard Wright, Ralph Ellison, Zora Neale Hurston, and Jacob Lawrence all worked for WPA projects. The Slave Narrative Collection, produced 1936–1938, preserved first-hand testimony of over 2,300 formerly enslaved people — invaluable historical documentation.

Zora Neale Hurston, trained in anthropology under Franz Boas at Columbia, conducted fieldwork collecting Black folklore, music, and oral traditions in the South in the early 1930s. Her 1935 collection 'Mules and Men' and her 1937 novel 'Their Eyes Were Watching God' documented Black Southern culture with unprecedented dignity and complexity, insisting on Black interior life against a white media landscape that denied it. Hurston worked on WPA Federal Writers' Project and challenged the assumption that Black culture had to be translated through white academic frameworks to be legitimate.

The 1935 Social Security Act excluded agricultural and domestic workers — roughly two-thirds of all Black workers — a carve-out demanded by Southern lawmakers to keep New Deal benefits from Black families.