Life of African Americans during the Great Depression The Great Depression lasted from 1929 to 1939, which is probably the most difficult decade in American history. The Great Depression saw the highest unemployment rates and all of America suffered together. Although all of America felt the consequences of the Great Depression, African Americans felt it worse, because they had even lower unemployment rates, faced racial discrimination, and received little help from the New Deal. These problems made life for African Americans much more difficult during the Great Depression and afterward. While the unemployment rate in America fell to nearly 16% in 1932, and would later fall even lower, the unemployment rate for African Americans fell to 50%. Roosevelt was elected to office in the fall of 1932, and throughout his campaign he promised the American people a New Deal to help them out of the Great Depression. This New Deal began to take shape in 1933, soon after he took office. In this New Deal there were banking reforms, emergency relief programs, job support programs, and agricultural programs. After this first New Deal, there was a second New Deal. The Second New Deal included union protection programs, the Social Security Act, and programs to help renters and migrant workers. The promise of these programs began to give hope to African Americans, who believed they finally had a president willing to help them too, which Roosevelt had promised to do. Despite his promises, there were still major problems in the New Deal for Africans. This gave many Americans jobs, whether it was becoming soldiers or building supplies to help in the war effort. African Americans were even discriminated against during this effort. This prompted President Roosevelt to issue Executive Order 8802, “affirming that all persons, without regard to race, creed, color, or national origin, would be permitted to participate fully in the defense of the United States.” (Race Relations in the 1930s and 1940s 1) This later led to African Americans gaining the respect of many white Americans. This was the only way out of the Great Depression, African Americans had to fight for a country that had previously held them back