Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Using an original dataset of public and private relief spending for 293 cities, this paper seeks to describe and explain the racial patterning of relief provision in American cities on the eve of the Great Depression. In 1929, cities with more Blacks and Mexicans spent significantly less on relief and their relief systems were funded with comparatively more private as opposed to public funds. Meanwhile, cities with more European immigrants spent significantly more on relief and funded their relief systems with more public funds. I argue that in order to understand these particular patterns of relief provision, it is most helpful to think of each group as living in three different worlds, each with its own particular set of race and labor market relations and distinct political systems. These different systems of political and labor market relations—and the disparate attitudes that emerged from these worlds about each group’s use of relief—powerfully shaped the patterns of relief provision across American cities.