Though celebrated as a model program of the New Deal, the Civilian Conservation Corps was\u00a0not without problems, particularly for people of color. Simply enrolling in the CCC was more\u00a0difficult for people of color because of unofficial quotas in place for much of the duration of the\u00a0program. Once in the CCC, minorities experienced resistance to the placement of their\u00a0companies near white communities and little opportunity to acquire positions of leadership.<\/p>\n
The Act of March 31, 1933 (Unemployment Relief Act) included the clause: “That in employing\u00a0citizens for the purposes of this Act, no discrimination shall be made on account of race, color,\u00a0or creed.” However, the nine-year span of the CCC’s existence demonstrated this intended\u00a0protection did not lead to equality. From its inception, the CCC failed at the selection of black\u00a0applicants on an equal basis with white applicants. This was most problematic in the American\u00a0South where enrollment rates were far from proportionate to state populations. In Mississippi,\u00a0where the state population was more than 50 percent black, the CCC had black enrollment\u00a0rates as low as 1.7 percent. This despite black unemployment rates that were double the\u00a0national average and more than two million African American persons on federal relief. At this\u00a0time, the US population was approximately 10 percent African American. By contrast, 6 percent\u00a0of enrollees were African American over the life of the program.<\/p>\n
All CCC camps in Arkansas, like the remainder of the South, maintained segregation. Outside\u00a0the South, segregation was predominant, but blacks were attached to some white companies\u00a0into August 1934. However, a ruling by the CCC program director, Robert Fechner, in\u00a0September 1934 instituted strict segregation in the camps. This action cemented the ongoing\u00a0practice of a quota system within the CCC. Subsequently, African Americans were only selected\u00a0for CCC positions as vacancies occurred in African American camps.<\/p>\n
An additional problem was the resistance of local communities to the establishment of black\u00a0camps in their vicinity. In at least one case, an Arkansas community rejected the opportunity for\u00a0a camp, only to have a majority black community request and obtain the camp. However, if a\u00a0location could not be found for a black company, the state lost one of its 200-man camps.<\/p>\n\tngg_shortcode_1_placeholder\n\t
Stipulations were placed on black enrollment to include a prohibition on transportation outside\u00a0one’s own state. Additionally, camp locations for black companies were to be selected by the\u00a0state’s governor rather than any outside administrator. While these structural forces worked to\u00a0limit the movement and participation of African Americans in the CCC, there was pressure from\u00a0some local communities, and groups such as the NAACP to expand African American\u00a0participation. These efforts did not overturn disproportionate enrollment practices and other\u00a0discriminatory policies beyond enrollment, such as the policy that blacks would not have any\u00a0position of supervision beyond educational advisor. President Roosevelt’s vague 1936\u00a0recommendation of extending supervisory roles to blacks “wherever possible” was easy for local\u00a0administrators to dismiss.<\/p>\n\t
In the end, African American citizens did not receive representative relief from the agency to\u00a0which they were explicitly entitled in its enabling legislation. In 1939, the Arkansas District\u00a0selected only 20 black enrollees out of a total selection quota of 934. While the national director\u00a0of the agency actively worked against the black constituency through policy decisions that\u00a0prohibited integration and restricted interstate movement, he was reflecting prevailing white\u00a0power and opinion. This manifested from the local scale in the resistance to black camps and\u00a0unrepresentative enrollment to the national in President Roosevelt’s acquiescence to racist\u00a0policy.<\/p>\n\t\n
Dr. Jess Porter is Chair of the UA Little Rock History Department. A cultural geographer by training, Jess coordinated the UA Little Rock Geography program upon his arrival from Oklahoma State University in 2009.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Though celebrated as a model program of the New Deal, the Civilian Conservation Corps was\u00a0not without problems, particularly for people of color. Simply enrolling in the CCC was more\u00a0difficult for people of color because of unofficial quotas in place for…<\/p>\n<\/div>\n