President Franklin Roosevelt & His Black Cabinet
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With the entrance of each new administration we now hear about the importance of making the presidentÆs cabinet ôlook like Americaö. That resemblance is never actually achieved, of course, if only because each American has a different idea of what it is that America really looks like. But amid the complex politics of inclusion û at least when a Democrat is in the White House it is easy to overlook how far it is that we have actually come just over the course of the 20th century in terms of acknowledging that the differing experiences of different racial groups are all valid and that they must be included in an administration if the country is to be well run.Many people deserve credit for bringing African-American voices into the mainstream of the national political process. But one of the people who deserves a fair measure of credit is often forgotten in the midst of the substantial achievements of later civil rights leaders. But Franklin Delano Roosevelt must also receive credit. This paper examines his ôblack Cabinetö and the people in it and the lasting importance of such an informal organization on the national culture. RooseveltÆs reliance on black leaders came about in large measure because his administration's accessibility to black leaders. New Deal reforms had strengthened black support for the Democratic party and blacks and other Democrats began to find common ground in a number of areas. The black leaders who were members of the so-called "black Cabinet" were fre
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esent more than 35 national and 250 community affiliations and millions of individual women (Poole, 1994, p. 186).
The organization continues with its original grassroots approach, encouraging advocacy through the publication of journals, annual Black Family Reunion Celebrations that present workshops and exhibits to celebrate and strengthen African American families; National Centers for African American Women that work to empower African-American women in the workforce and in their communities; the Research, Public Policy and Information Center, which provides information on issues affecting African American women; and others (Poole, 1994, p. 191).
BethuneÆs ability to advise Roosevelt on a number of different issues û including those involving gender and race û and her commitment to the importance of education to all Americans and especially to minorities has ensured her a lasting place among influential figures of the 20th century.
Born in Knoxville, Tennessee, on Nov. 7, 1904, William Henry Hastie was educated as a child in Knoxville and Washington D.C. and attended Amherst College, from which he graduated first in his class and later earned a law degree from Harvard (Mier, 1982, p. 113). á á á á Following RooseveltÆs electi
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Some common words found in the essay are:
African American, Negro Women, Weaver Mier, Negro Girls, Delano Roosevelt, NAACP NAACP, White House, Virgin Islands, Urban League, , african american, á á, mier 1982, poole 1994, black leaders, pittsburgh courier, á á á, african american women, buni 1989, american women, council negro women, national council, national urban, national council negro, national urban league,
Approximate Word count = 1766
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)
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