[stylin19a]

"Historian Ira Katznelson points out that median black family income was around $500 a month, which means most blacks lived at subsistence level without electricity, hot water, refrigeration, adequate plumbing or gas for cooking. “Under these circumstances,” Katznelson writes, New Deal benefits “limited though they were” and “however discriminatory” still offered some relief and solace to a “desperate population.”

Huh ? Median black family made 500 bucks a month - 6 grand a year - in the throes of the depression ?
The average salary in 1936 was 1700 bucks a year.
I made $1.50 an hour in 1967.

[fieldmarshaldj]

That figure must be in error. That might either be $500 a year or maybe $50 per month.

[Enterprise]

Thanks. I noticed that, and I thought that seemed somewhat high.

[riverdawg]

He must mean $500 per month in *today’s* dollars.