My two topics for my blog are about the Civilian Conservation Corps and Fair Labor Standards Act.First I am going to talk about the Civilian Conservation Corps also known as the CCC. During the Great Depression Franklin D Roosevelt was president. Once Franklin became president he created many new programs to put the country’s people back to work. After his first 100 or so days in office he created the “New Deal” and part of this deal included the Civilian Conservation Corps. The CCC was originally known as the Emergency Conservation Work Act. FDR brought together the nation’s men in which whom were unemployed and enlisted them in a peacetime army. The Civilian Conservation Corps was better known as Roosevelt’s Tree Army. This program helped renew the land after the destruction of the Dust Bowl. The CCC was given credit for most of the nation’s reforestation and accomplishments. The requirements to become involved with the CCC were quite simple. You had to be a citizen of the US, unemployed, unmarried, and between the ages of 18 and 26. Men swarmed to enroll because of the CCC the crime rate had reduced 55 percent. The men received $30 per month and their families received a check of $25. There were camps set up all over the US. Even though the CCC’s policy prohibited discrimination blacks and other unfortunate minorities suffered difficulties. In June of ’33 the CCC offered some education to those who were enrolled. Over 90 percent participated in the educational programs. These programs talk numerous men how to read and write. The men were very hard workers and did lots of physical labor. Some projects included: 97,000 miles of road built, more than 3 billion trees planted and so many more accomplishments. In 1939 the Civilian Conservation Corps lost its status as a independent agency. Then congress funded the CCC and lengthened its time for two more years. The CCC was such a great accomplishment of the New Deal. Even though it had only lasted ten years the effects were felt for decades more. After awhile the businesses starting picking up and men were being hired again. I feel that this program accomplished so much it helped those who were unemployed and it helped clean up the destruction left behind from the Dust Bowl.
My other topic was the Fair Labor Standards Act or the FLSA for short. It was drafted by the senator of Alabama, Hugo Black. It was signed into law in June of ’38. This act was established to “put a ceiling over hours and a floor under wages”. It allowed 40 weekly hours and a minimum wage of 40 cents per hour. It also prohibited most child labor. The act affected nearly 700,000 workers because of the wage and hour increase. Those who were affected were mostly white men (39%) and women (14%). Labor Unions tried to exclude women and colored people from jobs due to the scarcity and the extremely high unemployment rate during the very sad Great Depression. However, they did benefit from the wage and hour increase. The Supreme Court made an opposition that businesses should make the minimum wage per hour 25 cents. FDR had made promises to change to the treatment of all workers as part of the New Deal. Even though the Supreme Court was against the wage increase I feel that it was a good idea and it helped out a lot of citizens during this hard time.
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