The Communist Party and Black Liberation in the 1930s

The 1930s were a period of economic crisis and mass working-class radicalization. Official unemployment went from 8.8 percent in 1930 to a peak of 25.2 percent in 1933 (over 15 million workers!), never dipping below 13.8 percent throughout the pre-war period.¹¹
For Blacks, the numbers were even more startling. In cities like Detroit, Chicago, Philadelphia and New York, Black unemployment in 1932 ranged from 40 to over 55 percent. Wages were low, and relief was practically nonexistent.¹²
Roosevelt's National Recovery Act of 1933--a program of government spending aimed at alleviating the impact of the crisis--actually worsened conditions for Blacks. Writes historian Philip Foner,

Thousands were fired and replaced by white workers on jobs where blacks were being paid less than established minimum-wage scales; by August, 1933, blacks were calling it the 'Negro Removal Act'...Legal sanction was given to lower wage scales in Southern industry, especially for blacks.¹³

http://www.isreview.org/issues/01/cp_blacks_1930s.shtml