• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer
Zippy Facts Logo

Zippy Facts

Interesting Random Facts

  • Animals
  • Culture
  • Firsts
  • Food
  • Geography
  • Health
  • History
  • Inventions
  • Language
  • Mythology
  • Odds
  • People
  • Religion
  • Science
  • Space
  • Universe
  • World
You are here: Home / History / What were some of the social programs created under the New Deal in the 1930s?

What were some of the social programs created under the New Deal in the 1930s?

February 23, 2020 by Karen Hill

Under the New Deal, federal relief programs were created to help poor people.

The major legislation was the Social Security Act of 1935, which provided unemployment insurance, old age insurance, and money to the states for relief for the blind and for homeless children.

The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 established the first minimum hourly wage ($.40) and maximum hours (forty per week) for workers in industries engaged in interstate commerce. New housing, financed by the government, was built.

The National Youth Administration (NYA), established in 1935, was a student work program that involved 64,000 young African Americans. Mary McLeod Bethune (1875-1955) was appointed to head its Division of Negro Affairs.

In the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), established in 1933, unemployed young men from the cities were put to work in rural areas. There they built roads, worked on projects designed to prevent soil erosion, and planted trees during reforestation programs. This program employed 200,000 young blacks.

The Work Projects Administration (WPA) employed approximately a million African Americans in jobs ranging from clerical work to bridge building to mural painting in post offices. The WPA promoted black adult education, hired unemployed black professionals, and stimulated the arts within the black community.

The education program employed more than 5,000 African Americans as leaders and supervisors, taught nearly 250,000 African Americans to read and write, and trained many for skilled jobs. Harry Hopkins, head of the WPA, helped establish policies making it illegal for any relief official to discriminate on the basis of race, creed, or color.

The WPA’s adult education program taught 400,000 blacks to read and write.

Related Facts

  • Top 25 Inventions That Changed Our Lives Forever
  • How did the New Deal programs help solve the economic problems of African Americans during the 1930s?
  • Top 25 Inventions That Changed the World
  • How did the New Deal programs affect African American progress in the 1930s?
  • Why were some African Americans excluded from certain New Deal programs in the 1930s?
  • What Is a Googol?

Filed Under: History

About Karen Hill

Karen Hill is a freelance writer, editor, and columnist. Born in New York, her work has appeared in the Examiner, Yahoo News, Buzzfeed, among others.

Previous Post: « When did the Great Depression end?
Next Post: Why was the Civilian Conservation Corps created and How did the program help unemployed men find jobs? »

Footer

Follow

  • Facebook
  • Flickr
  • GitHub
  • Google+
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Medium
  • Pinterest
  • StumbleUpon
  • Tumblr
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Categories

Accomplishments Animals Culture Firsts Food Geography Health History Inventions Language Mythology Odds People Religion Science Space Universe World Your Body

About

Zippy Facts empowers the world by serving educational content that is accessible to everyone.

A tribute to growing up, zippyfacts.com showcases interesting and unusual facts about the world.

Our mission is to use technology to facilitate knowledge transfer and sharing.

Copyright © 2020 Zippy Facts

  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy