Essay Problem
• Why did communism appeal to an increasing number of African Americans in the 1930s?
• Like the Socialist Party, the Communist Party sought to unite workers along class lines and across race lines. What was the black response to this effort?
• Consider the ways in which the different political parties responded to the concerns of African Americans. What were the responses of the Democratic and Republican Parties? How did these compare with the response of the Communist Party?
• How do the perspectives shown in the FSA photographs influence how you perceive African American life during the Great Depression? How do the artists' choices, such as camera angle and photographic subject, influence your view of African Americans of this time?
• Compare and contrast the racial politics of the Communist Party with the racial politics of ordinary black life represented in these documents. How were these politics alike? How did they differ?
• How do these two kinds of racial politics illustrate the cultural politics, or dynamic interaction between culture and politics, of this era?
The response should include a reference list. One-inch margins, Using Times New Roman 12 pnt font, double-space and APA style of writing and citations.