M5 homework

M5 Discussion (original post): The NAACP, The Communist Party, and the Scottsboro Case OR African Americans and the New Deal

(Discussion Expectations: Lively discussions are welcome, but in order to meet class expectations, please provide an original post response of at least 200 words to one of the following question sets.

Original Post (option 1):  Discuss the gains made by the NAACP during the 1920s through the 1940s.  Which cases were important and why? What was the organization working for, and what were the favored tactics?  Also, what did the “Scottsboro Boys” case illustrate, both for blacks in general and regarding the NAACP, and what does the case teach us about the appeal of the Communist Party as an alternative to the NAACP?

OR

Original Post (option 2): Discuss two of the following: How were some New Deal programs, such as the AAA and the Civilian Conservation Corps, discriminatory in one way or another?  Discuss the origins of the Social Security Act, as well as its effect on blacks, and the belief that “welfare” was something to be avoided. How were government programs a focus for certain whites, who wanted to keep poor white women and blacks in subservient positions? How might we relate the existence of ongoing racism and the expansion of government programs to the development of the Tuskegee Experiment?