Beginning in 1932, he took charge of an extensive church-sponsored a relief program providing food, clothing and temporary jobs for thousands of Harlem's homeless and unemployed.
             It was during the Depression years that Powell would establish himself as a charismatic militant, and successful civil rights leader. He organized mass meetings, rent strikes and public campaigns that forced restaurants, retail stores, bus lines, utilities, telephone companies, Harlem Hospital and the 1939 World's Fair either to hire or to begin promoting black employees. Powell would also soon succeed his father as pastor of the Abyssinian Baptist Church. His impressive protest victories would secure an extraordinary loyal support base from Harlem residents who would stand behind him almost the very end of his career.
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