Anna Arnold Hedgeman

During the Depression, urban black Americans not only experienced job discrimination they also had a hard time finding decent places to live. Many landlords would not rent to minorities at all. Landlords in Harlem, New York, took advantage of the situation by hiking up rent. To afford the exorbitant rent, multiple families moved in together into single family dwellings. In 1929, Anna Arnold Hedgeman worked for the YWCA. After the stock market crash, all the relief agencies, including the YWCA, were forced to bear a heavy burden. In this excerpt from her autobiography Hedgeman describes her experiences working in Harlem and what she saw as a social worker. Anna Arnold Hedgeman later went on to become an author, civil rights activist, and a politician who served in the New York City cabinet.

In Harlem I helped organize...