Lesson 3: African-Americans and the New Deal's Civilian Conservation Corps

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was one of the first New Deal initiatives to be enacted into law by Congress. The first enrollee was inducted only thirty-seven days after Franklin Roosevelt's inauguration. As a component of what came to be known as "The Hundred Days," which marked the beginning of President Roosevelt's first term, the CCC was unquestionably part of FDR's broad response to the mass unemployment that plagued the United States in 1932. However, the idea that the unemployed should form work brigades to clear and improve a nation's forests and thus preserve the natural environment had long been supported by a variety of conservationists, political theorists, and reformers. The agency represented a government response, supported by a range of groups, to the crisis facing young people as well as the environment in the 1930s.

The Civilian Conservation Corps enrolled over three million young men between the ages of 17 and 23 in the years from 1933 to 1942. These enrollees planted trees, fought fires and performed other conservation-related tasks. They also worked at improving parks and building roads. One quarter of a million of these young men were African-Americans. African-American participation in the CCC was set at ten percent, a figure equal to the black population, and the law establishing the corps outlawed discrimination based on race. Despite these legal provisions, CCC Director Robert Fechner ordered segregation as the official policy in response to the complaints of local community leaders and corps administrators. African-American members of the CCC faced harsh treatment as a result of racial attitudes held by the residents of local communities as well as those of CCC and other program leaders. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and other civil rights groups protested the conditions to little avail. Jim Crow policies remained in place for the duration of the program.

A good short account of the CCC's structure, work, and achievements can be found on the Civilian Conservation Corp Legacy website. A more extended analysis of the CCC that contains a detailed description of its origins and a more thorough explanation of its operations and political trajectory can be found at the Brief History of the Civilian Conservation Corps on the website of  The National Parks Service. Finally, a concise but thoughtful sketch of African American participation in the CCC can be found on the EDSITEment-reviewed New Deal Network website African Americans and the Civilian Conservation Corps.

The EDSITEment-reviewed American Memory site from the Library of Congress has an excellent exhibit on The African American Odyssey: A Quest for Full Citizenship which discusses the Depression and start of World War II.

Teachers preparing to teach this lesson should review the following documents, which can be found under the subheading African-Americans in the Civilian Conservation Corps in the "Documents" section of the New Deal Network.

Teachers can also have students make use of student LaunchPads, which are listed in the left sidebar under "Additional Student/Teacher Resources." 

• CCC Youth Refuses To Fan Flies Off Officer; Is Fired
• Harold Ickes to Robert Fechner, 20 September 1935
• Robert Fechner to Thomas Griffith, 21 September 1935
• FDR to Robert Fechner, 27 September 1935
• Robert Fechner to Robert J. Buckley, 4 June 1936
• A Negro in the CCC by Luther C. Wandall, August 1935

Teachers should also review the Introduction to these documents on the New Deal Network, which provides an overview of the issues surrounding African-American participation in the CCC.

Activity 1. FDR and African-Americans in the CCC

Give each student a short, two paragraph excerpt (first two paragraphs) from the New Deal Network's Introduction to African Americans in the Civilian Conservation Corps. Students can also use the LaunchPad for this activity.

Open a discussion of these paragraphs by posing the following question:

• Based on the very limited information provided in this excerpt, what do you think were the possible positive and negative features of this program for African Americans during the Depression?

Student responses to this question may be shared in a full class discussion and posted on a blackboard or they may be developed in smaller groups, which then can be presented to the class as a whole.

Give each student a copy of FDR's 1935 Memo to CCC Director Robert Fechner Open a discussion of this document by posing the following questions:

• What policy is President Roosevelt calling for here and why do you think he is calling for it?
• What, if anything, does this document tell you about conditions faced by black workers in the CCC and the attitude of the President and the federal government towards them?
• What, if anything, does this document tell about the attitude of the President and the federal government towards racial discrimination in the United States?
• How much do you think the policy that was called for in this memo advanced racial equality in America given the fact that racial segregation was still the law in many states?
• What was the political, economic and social status of blacks in the different parts of the U.S. at this time and to what extent does the CCC's treatment of blacks accept or challenge that status?
• Is FDR's attitude toward blacks in this memo positive or negative? How can you explain his position toward blacks in the CCC?

As students respond to these questions, press them to support their positions with evidence from the memo or the Introduction. Also encourage students to respond to positions taken by other students and to explain whether they agree or disagree with their classmates' views.

Activity 2. The Debate on African-Americans in the CCC

Students can use the accompanying LaunchPad for this activity.

For homework, students should complete the following assignment:

• Attached are four documents that may shed light on the degree to which the CCC advanced African-American equality in the United States.
  • CCC Youth Refuses To Fan Flies Off Officer; Is Fired
  • Letter from CCC Director Robert Fechner to Thomas Griffith, President of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
  • Letter from Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes to CCC Director Robert Fechner
  • Letter from CCC Director Robert Fechner to Senators Robert Buckley and Vic Donahey

Students should read print-outs of these documents and for each of them highlight or underline evidence that helps answer the following questions:

• What problem faced by black CCC workers does the document describe?
• What solutions to this problem does the federal government offer?
• Why do you think the federal government offered the solution that it did?
• What do the problem and the solution tell you about the attitude of the federal government towards black CCC workers?
• What do the problem and the solution tell you about the attitude of the federal government towards racial discrimination?
• When all the documents are taken together, what do they tell you about the New Deal government's attitude toward black CCC workers and racial discrimination in general?

In Class: The teacher should lead the students in a discussion of these four documents. The discussion can start with separate consideration of each document and the accompanying questions, or it can begin with a response to the homework's last and more general question, considering all documents together.

In either case, the teacher should encourage students to evaluate not only the role of the federal government in general, but also the role of different government officials and thus the different approaches that existed within the Roosevelt Administration. The teacher should also encourage students to discuss other questions or issues that the documents may raise. Examples include:

• To what extent can the federal government as a whole be held responsible for the behavior and attitudes of locally hired government officials?
• How should a federal policy be implemented when federal officials differ in their understanding of that policy?
• Do you think that some blacks employed by the CCC preferred to work in segregated units?

As always, the teacher should press students to support their answers or remarks with evidence from the documents and to respond to opposing interpretations similarly by using the text.

Activity 3. A First Hand Account of African-American Life in the CCC

Students can use the accompanying LaunchPad for this activity.

• For homework, students should complete the following assignment:
  • Read A Negro in the CCC, a "first hand" account of black life in a CCC camp published in the NAACP's Crisis magazine in 1935.

• As you read the article:
  • Highlight or underline evidence that suggests that this man's experience in the CCC was positive. Write a 'P' for positive in the margin next to every reference you think is positive.
  • Highlight or underline evidence that suggests that this man's experience in the CCC was negative. Write an 'N' for negative in the margin next to every reference you think is negative.
  • Using evidence from the article and from your own understanding, write a two or three paragraph explanation of why you think the writer "heartily recommends" work in the CCC and why you agree or disagree with his recommendation.
• Divide the class into small groups of three to five students each.

In their groups, the students should identify and discuss the evidence they have selected from the homework document and respond to the following questions:

• What was positive and negative about this man's experience in the CCC?
• What, if anything, does this description of the black CCC experience tell you about the attitude of the federal government towards black CCC workers and racial discrimination?
• How typical do you think this man's experience was and why?
• How reliable a source of information is this account? What is the basis for your judgment?

After the students have spent roughly half of the class time in small group discussion, the teacher should bring the entire class together for further analysis of the document's evidence and for discussion of the above questions.

Activity 4. The CCC Agency's View of African-American Participation

Students can use the accompanying LaunchPad for this activity.

The teacher should distribute copies of What The CCC Is Doing For Colored Youth, by Edgar Brown, the agency's advisor on racial affairs. Students should be asked to identify evidence that persuades them or does not persuade them that:

• Work in the CCC was a positive experience for young black men.
• The federal government played a positive role in using the CCC to fight racial discrimination and empower black workers.

The teacher should ask every student to highlight or underline and then label persuasive and unpersuasive pieces of the text as a way of preparing students for discussion of this document.

Briefing: Students take on the role of Presidential advisors charged with briefing Congress or a Presidential Cabinet Secretary on the state of the CCC, including analysis regarding issues of labor and civil rights. Attention to specific regions and years can help students differentiate what is examined and provide a lens for analyzing change over time.

News report: Students take on the role of a news reporter who has arrived in a specific city where the CCC is working. Based on analysis of primary sources, newspapers found through our Chronicling America database, and research on the New Deal, students construct a news story that includes quotes, data, and other information gathered through research to address one of the learning objectives identified above.

Speech Writer: It is time for a local politician to make a speech regarding the New Deal and specifically, the inclusion of African Americans in the CCC. Students select a place and time and working with primary sources, they write a speech that establishes a position in response to the guiding question. Students are encouraged to work in pairs so that opposing viewpoints can be included.

Ask students to reflect on what they think the New Deal and programs such as the CCC will mean for African Americans, then return to these issues when discussing labor policies during and after WWII. Connections can also be made to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's involvement with the sanitation workers strike in Memphis in 1968 and the extent to which the CCC provided lasting change with regard to the long history of civil and labor rights in the United States.