Although African Americans have been the victims of racial
oppression throughout the history of the United States,
they have always supported the nation, especially during
wartime. When World War II erupted, over 2.5 million black
men registered for the draft and one million served as
draftees or volunteers in all of the branches of the armed
forces during conflict. Most black men who served were
in the Army and were relegated to segregated combat support
groups. Over 12,000 black men who served in the segregated
92nd Division received citations and were decorated for
their effort, and the all black 761st Tank Battalion received
the Presidential Unit Citation for “extraordinary
heroism.”
By 1944, 145,000 black men served in the US Army Air Force,
including the 99th Fighter Squadron, popularly known as
the Tuskegee Airmen. The Tuskegee Airmen became legendary
for their heroic feats during the war and received a Distinguished
Unit Citation, several silver stars, 150 distinguished
flying crosses, fourteen bronze stars, and 744 air medals.
Although the Navy put up great resistance and had only
allowed blacks to serve as mess attendants, pressure from
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and civil rights organizations
forced the Navy to start recruiting blacks in April 1942
for service. However, its policy of relegating blacks
to segregated units led black to leaders to accuse the
Navy of practicing Jim Crow. Despite its goal of recruiting
14,000 volunteers in the first year, blacks never made
up more than five percent of the entire Navy.
Black women also came to the defense of the nation by
enlisting in the Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC).
Black women in WAAC were labeled “ten percenters”
because they made up ten percent of the woman recruited.
Like black men in the armed forces, they were placed in
segregated units, lived in segregated housing, ate at
segregated tables in the mess hall, and received segregated
training. Although black WAAC officers received officer
cadet training in integrated units, all other aspects
of life in the Corps were segregated. Over 6,200 black
women served in WAAC. In spite of serving in segregated
units and facing harsh discrimination, black women served
with distinction.
Although African Americans supported their government
during WWII, they were not silent about racial practices
in America. In fact, some even noted the similarities
between the way Jews were treated in Germany and the way
blacks were treated in America. The Poet Langston Hughes,
for example, expressed this sentiment in his piece “Nazi
and Dixie Nordics.”
“The Germans are the victims of a mass psychosis,”
says an American sociologist. “It will take
drastic measures to control them when peace comes.”
These people were talking about Germany. To a Negro,
they might just as well have been speaking of white
Southerners in Dixie. Our local Nordics have a mass
psychosis too, when it comes to race. As the Hitlerites
treat the Jews, so they treat the Negroes, in varying
degrees of viciousness ranging from the denial of
educational opportunities to the denial of employment,
from buses that pass Negroes by to jailers who beat
and torture Negro prisoners, from the denial of the
ballot to the denial of the right to live.
Hughes, like millions of African Americans, was fully
conscious of the gap between the stated ideals of the
United States and its practices at home. African Americans
were also aware that the war created an opportunity
to press US leaders for full citizenship.
Double V Campaign
The Pittsburgh Courier, one of the nation’s
largest black newspapers, stepped to the forefront in
the struggle for racial equality by launching its "Double
V" campaign. Responding to a January 31, 1942 letter
to the editor by James G. Thompson of Wichita, Kansas,
urging for a double V campaign, the paper published
two interlocking Vs with the theme “Democracy:
Victory at home, Victory Abroad,” in its February
7, 1942 edition of the paper. The major objective of
the campaign was to encourage blacks to support the
war effort but fight for civil rights. The Courier’s
advocacy of patriotism was in part to prevent critics
of accusing it of pushing its own agenda ahead of the
nation’s objective.
According to the Courier the response to the
introduction of its campaign was “overwhelming.”
Its office had been swamped with telegrams and letters
of support proving that its slogan represented the “true
battle cry of Colored Americans” and that they
were determined to protect their nation and the freedoms
which they cherished. It argued that African Americans
would wage a "two-pronged attack” against
those who would enslave us “at home and those
who abroad would enslave us. WE HAVE A STAKE IN THIS
FIGHT….WE ARE AMERICANS TOO!”
The Double V campaign became intertwined with popular
culture. During the war, pinup models, usually glamorous
movie stars considered sex symbols, were featured in
magazines, postcards and newspapers. In its February
14, 1943 edition, the Courier also began to
feature photos of pretty young women. Labeled the “Double
V girl,” the young women were college educated,
were usually artistically talented, and were in support
of the campaign. In addition to using glamorous women
to attract supporters for its campaign, the paper also
had photos of people dressed in the Double V fashion
wear such as Double V dresses and Double V hats.
Besides the photos of the Double V Girls and Double
V fashion, the Courier used numerous photos
of whites standing alongside African Americans, emphasizing
the point that the struggle for democracy was not a
black issue but one that benefited the nation. The photos
of blacks and whites flashing the Double V were to drive
home the point that a unified country was essential
for winning the war. Therefore, it urged the country
not only preach democracy to the world but to practice
it at home.
The Double V campaign was eventually adopted by other
black newspapers, including the Los Angles Sentinel,
the Washington Tribune, and the Challenger
of Columbus, Ohio. Despite the Courier’s
effort, by 1943, the paper provided less space in promoting
the campaign and by September 1945 the paper stopped
using Double V. Although the Courier could
not claim any concrete accomplishments, the Double V
campaign helped provide a voice to Americans who wanted
to protest racial discrimination and contribute to the
war effort.
The March on Washington Campaign
Another crucial way that African Americans took advantage
of America’s involvement in WWII to push for civil
rights was through mass protest. When Nazi Germany began
invading and occupying countries in Europe, American
industries began contracting with the government to
increase production of ships, tanks, guns and other
items for defense. Despite the urgent need for tens
of thousands of skilled workers to help in the production
of these items, war production companies refused to
hire blacks. Moreover, the federal government refused
to take steps to end the racial discriminatory actions
of these industries. In fact, the administration publicly
announced that it would continue to segregate black
and whites who enlisted in the armed services.
In response to the blatant discrimination on the part
of industry and government, civil rights leader and
labor organizer A. Philip Randolph launched the March
on Washington Movement (MOWM), which helped organize
thousands of people of African origin in the United
States to march on the nation’s capital in 1941,
demanding that President Franklin Delano Roosevelt issue
an executive order banning discrimination in the defense
industry. The March on Washington Committee was organized
and headed by Randolph and consisted of prominent black
leaders such as Walter White of the NAACP and Lester
Granger of the Urban League. Although Eleanor Roosevelt
met with Randolph and White to convince them to call
off the march, Randolph refused, insisting that the
president agree to ban discrimination in the defense
industry. The threat of thousands of black people coming
to Washington DC to protest convinced FDR to hold a
meeting with Randolph and other march leaders in June
1941. Although the president attempted to convince Randolph
to call off the march, Randolph refused unless an executive
order was issued.
Eventually, FDR agreed that his close ally Mayor Fiorello
La Guardia of New York, and others associated with the
White House, work out a compromise with Randolph. The
compromise was Executive Order 8802, which banned employment
discrimination in defense industry and government. FDR
also created a temporary Fair Employment Practices Committee
to help ensure that defense manufacturers would not
practice racial discrimination. Because of a major victory
in forcing the government to take action against discrimination
for the first time since Reconstruction, Randolph agreed
to call off the march.
Randolph and the march organizers had won a major victory
for racial equality and had laid the groundwork for
the civil rights protests of the 1950s and 1960s.
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