Jim Crow laws were in effect, barring blacks from trying on clothes at stores, using public transit, and continuing segregation of schools and unions. Additionally, attempts to move into white neighborhoods were often met with violence and police brutality was common.
According to the 1930 census, blacks were usually laborers with 30.8% working in manufacturing/mechanical industries and 34.3% working as domestic/personal service or janitors. 80% of black women over 10 years old were servants, hair dressers, boarding house operators, laundresses, laundry workers or waitresses. Discrimination blocked most other opportunities and education for blacks often stopped in their teens when they would join the workforce.