[Detail] Migrant agricultural worker

Minorities

In addition to the trials of the Depression, minorities dealt with discrimination. Tenant farmers and sharecroppers like these were evicted when Southern farm owners used cutbacks in production as an opportunity to discriminate against African Americans. In 1932, unemployment among African Americans was about 50 percent, twice the national average.

In the West, minorities had a hard time getting what little work there was, when produce growers favored native-born workers. Members of minority groups such as this Chinese man were forced to migrate from one temporary, low-paying job to the next. Some workers had to support their families on as little as $1.50 a week. Search negro, Spanish-American, Mexican, Filipino, and Chinese for pictures depicting the minority experience of the Depression.