The Black Cabinet was first known as the Federal Council of Negro Affairs

Federal Council of Negro Affairs

The Federal Council of Negro Affairs was an informal collection of African Americans that advised President Franklin D. Roosevelt during the Great Depression and his New Deal acts. He appointed a large number of blacks to second-level positions and by the mid-1930s there were about 45 blacks...

, an informal group of African-American public policy advisors to United States President

President of the United States

The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....

 Franklin D. Roosevelt

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...

. It was supported by the first lady Eleanor Roosevelt

Eleanor Roosevelt

Anna Eleanor Roosevelt was the First Lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945. She supported the New Deal policies of her husband, distant cousin Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and became an advocate for civil rights. After her husband's death in 1945, Roosevelt continued to be an international...

. By mid-1935, there were 45 African Americans working in federal executive departments

United States Federal Executive Departments

The United States federal executive departments are among the oldest primary units of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States—the Departments of State, War, and the Treasury all being established within a few weeks of each other in 1789.Federal executive...

 and New Deal

New Deal

The New Deal was a series of economic programs implemented in the United States between 1933 and 1936. They were passed by the U.S. Congress during the first term of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The programs were Roosevelt's responses to the Great Depression, and focused on what historians call...

 agencies.

Roosevelt's administration wanted to tend to the increasing needs of African Americans which, in practical terms, had not been met since Reconstruction.