President Franklin Roosevelt & His Black Cabinet

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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Approximate Word count = 1766
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)

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