Editing Civilian Conservation Corps (section)

===African American people===
Because of the power of conservative [[Solid South]] white Democrats in Congress, who insisted on racial segregation, most New Deal programs were racially segregated; African American and white people rarely worked alongside each other. At this time, all the states of the South had passed legislation imposing racial segregation and, since the turn of the century, laws and constitutional provisions that [[Disfranchisement after Reconstruction era|disenfranchised most African Americans]]; they were excluded from formal politics. Because of discrimination by white officials at the local and state levels, African Americans in the South did not receive as many benefits as white people from New Deal programs.

In the first few weeks of operation, CCC camps in the North were [[Racial integration|integrated]]. By July 1935, however, all camps in the United States were segregated.<ref>{{cite book |author=Kay Rippelmeyer |title=The Civilian Conservation Corps in Southern Illinois, 1933-1942 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ffupBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA98 |year=2015 |publisher=Southern Illinois Press |pages=98–99|isbn=9780809333653 }}</ref> Enrollment peaked at the end of 1935, when there were 500,000 men in 2,600 camps in operation in every state. All received equal pay and housing.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1586.html|title=Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)|website=www.u-s-history.com|access-date=2019-02-22}}</ref> Black leaders lobbied to secure leadership roles.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Salmond|first=John A.|date=June 1965|title=The Civilian Conservation Corps and the Negro|journal=The Journal of American History|publisher=Oxford University Press|volume=52, 1|issue=1|pages=82|doi=10.2307/1901125|jstor=1901125}}</ref> Adult white men held the major leadership roles in all the camps. Director Fechner refused to appoint Black adults to any supervisory positions except that of education director in the all-Black camps.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Calvin W. |last=Gower |title=The Struggle of Blacks for Leadership Positions in the Civilian Conservation Corps: 1933–1942 |journal=Journal of Negro History |volume=61 |issue=2 |year=1976 |pages=123–135 |jstor=2717266|doi=10.2307/2717266 |s2cid=149689541 }}</ref>