Jill Watts > Quotes

“Under Roosevelt, African Americans were abandoning the Republicans, the party of Lincoln, and voting for Democrats. A presidential election loomed ahead, in the fall of 1940. Black votes and black lives mattered. Roosevelt had to be reminded of that fact.”
― Jill Watts, The Black Cabinet: The Untold Story of African Americans and Politics During the Age of Roosevelt

“Mary McLeod Bethune accepted an appointment to head up a work program for African American youth, and with that, she became the first African American woman to lead a federal division.”
― Jill Watts, The Black Cabinet: The Untold Story of African Americans and Politics During the Age of Roosevelt

“FDR privately confessed to Walter White, the executive secretary of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), that his reticence came because he feared that if he endorsed anti-lynching bills, white southerners would retaliate by dismantling the New Deal.”
― Jill Watts, The Black Cabinet: The Untold Story of African Americans and Politics During the Age of Roosevelt

“The serious and diligent Robert Clifton Weaver had been the first African American to earn a PhD in economics from Harvard University; he worked for the Federal Housing Administration. The bookish and quiet William H. Hastie had served as a solicitor in the Department of the Interior and was the first African American to hold a federal judgeship. The outspoken and clever Al Smith was an alumnus of Howard University; he was an administrator in the Works Progress Administration and headed up the largest African American jobs programs in the New Deal.”
― Jill Watts, The Black Cabinet: The Untold Story of African Americans and Politics During the Age of Roosevelt

“For her, sex revolved around control, personal advancement, and sometimes revenge. Richman told Berle of an afternoon sexual rendezvous when West insisted the radio be tuned to a baseball game so she could stay awake. Despite Richman’s legendary lovemaking, West remained more interested in the power than in the passion that could be derived from sex.”
― Jill Watts, Mae West: An Icon in Black and White