Video Analysis: "The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross”: Making a Way Out of No Way (1897-1940)
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Week15.pptThe African-American Odyssey, 6e
Darlene Clark Hine, William C. Hine, Stanley C. Harrold
Chapter 17
African Americans
and the 1920s
1918–1929
The fight to stop lynchings was one of the NAACP’s most important campaigns in the early twentieth century. In the 1920s the NAACP fought unsuccessfully to secure anti-lynching legislation in Congress. To keep the issue in the public arena, the NAACP persisted with demonstrations and protests like this one at the Crime Conference in Washington, DC.
- The anti-lynching campaign helped unify the various groups devoted to gaining civil-rights for African-Americans, as well as being an important method of publicizing the racism and violence that characterized life in the South
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Learning Objectives
17-1 Why was there an increase in intolerance in the 1920s?
17-2 How did the Ku Klux Klan become so influential in the 1920s?
17-3 How did major black organizations confront racial discrimination and promote progress in the 1920s?
17-4 Why did some black men and women who worked as Pullman Porters form a labor union, and what role did A. Philip Randolph play in those efforts to organize these workers?
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Learning Objectives (cont’d)
17-5 Who were some of the men and women involved in the cultural phenomenon known as the Harlem Renaissance, and what were some of their literary, artistic, dramatic, and musical contributions to that movement?
17-6 What was the role of Harlem and its inhabitants in what popularly became known as the Jazz Age?
17-7 What opportunities and obstacles confronted black athletes in the 1920s?
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Strikes and the Red Scare
- Labor unrest
- Prelude to revolution
- 3,600 strikes, 1919
- Political leaders warned of communist overthrow
- A. Mitchell Palmer
- Xenophobia
- Sacco and Vanzetti
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- There were 3,600 strikes in 1919 as workers who during the war had deferred demands for pay raises and improved working conditions walked off their jobs
Strikes and the Red Scare (cont'd)
- Red Scare
- The widespread fear among any Americans in the years immediately after World War I from about 1918 to about 1924 that Russia’s 1917 Bolshevik Revolution might result in communists attempting to take over the U.S. government.
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- Political leaders exacerbated these feelings by warning that communists and foreign agents were plotting to overthrow the government
Varieties of Racism
- Scientific Racism
Cloaked in supposed scholarly studies
Race suicide: Americans being “diluted” by inferior people immigrating
Reflected ideology of Social Darwinism
Eastern and southern European immigrants were inferior
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Varieties of Racism (cont’d)
- The Birth of a Nation
D. W. Griffith: directs film in 1915
KKK saves state from ignorant and immoral negroes
Based on The Clansman
Ignited racial violence
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- Both the book and the film purported to depict Reconstruction in South Carolina
- Story depicts immoral and ignorant Negroes joined by greedy white Republicans seizing control of state government
- The heroic Ku Klux Klan saves the state and rescues its white womanhood
- Enormously popular film
The glorification of the Ku Klux Klan in D. W. Griffith’s The Birth of a Nation, reflected in this publicity poster, outraged African Americans. The NAACP protested when the silent film was first distributed in 1915 and again when a sound version was released in 1930. The demonstrations attracted publicity to both the film and the NAACP.
- Birth of a Nation was a significant technical achievement as well as one the film industry’s first blockbusters
- It helped solidify many Southerner’s perceptions that the South was correct in imposing Jim Crow laws and segregation after Reconstruction
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Varieties of Racism (cont’d)
f
LO 17-1. In 1915, D. W. Griffith released , a cinematic masterpiece and historical travesty that depicted blacks in a highly negative light during the Reconstruction and rekindled racial violence.
A: The Rising Tide of Color
B: The Emperor Jones
C: Shuffle Along
D: The Birth of a Nation
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Varieties of Racism (cont’d)
f
LO 17-1. In 1915, D. W. Griffith released , a cinematic masterpiece and historical travesty that depicted blacks in a highly negative light during the Reconstruction and rekindled racial violence.
A: The Rising Tide of Color
B: The Emperor Jones
C: Shuffle Along
D: The Birth of a Nation
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Varieties of Racism (cont’d)
LO 17-1. Influenced by “Scientific Racism” in 1921 and 1924, Congress severely restricted immigration from southern and eastern Europe, Latin America, and the Caribbean, and prohibited it entirely from Asia.
A: True
B: False
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Varieties of Racism (cont’d)
LO 17-1. Influenced by “Scientific Racism” in 1921 and in 1924, Congress severely restricted immigration from southern and eastern Europe, Latin America, and the Caribbean, and prohibited it entirely from Asia.
A: True
B: False
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The Ku Klux Klan
- Resurrected after Birth of a Nation
- Stone Mountain, Thanksgiving 1915
- William J. Simmons
- Resurrected a few months after The Birth of a Nation
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- The Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s stood for white supremacy
- Klansmen also styled themselves as “100 percent Americans” who opposed perceived threats from immigrants as well as black Americans
The Ku Klux Klan (cont'd)
- White supremacy
- Support in North, West as well as South
- Perceived threats from immigrants and African Americans
- Opposed immigrants, Blacks Jews, Catholics
- Membership declined in late 1920s
- Members fought amongst themselves
- By 1925 had about five million members
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- The Klan claimed to represent white, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant America
- The Klan found enormous support among apprehensive white middle-class Americans in the North and West
- The Klan attacked the theory of evolution, fought for the prohibition of alcoholic beverages, and claimed to uphold the “sanctity” of white womanhood
The Ku Klux Klan (cont'd)
f
LO 17-2. In 1925, the Ku Klux Klan attracted small businessmen, shopkeepers, clerks, Protestant clergymen, farmers, and professional people and had an estimated
members.
A: 100,000
B: 60,0000
C: 1 million
D: 5 million
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The Ku Klux Klan (cont'd)
f
LO 17-2. In 1925, the Ku Klux Klan attracted small businessmen, shopkeepers, clerks, Protestant clergymen, farmers, and professional people and had an estimated
members.
A: 100,000
B: 60,0000
C: 1 million
D: 5 million
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The Ku Klux Klan (cont'd)
LO 17-2. The Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s stood for white supremacy, and welcomed European immigrants into membership.
A: True
B: False
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The Ku Klux Klan (cont'd)
LO 17-2. The Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s stood for white supremacy, and welcomed European immigrants into membership.
A: True
B: False
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Protest, Pride, and Pan-Africanism:
Black Organizations in the 1920s
- The NAACP
- Expanded influence and increased membership
- James Weldon Johnson
- Fought hard for Dyer anti-lynching bill
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- The NAACP continued its efforts to secure constitutional rights and guarantees by advocacy in the political and judicial systems
- J. W. Johnson impressed both black and white people—an excellent diplomat who could negotiate and compromise, but he could also be blunt when necessary
- Although Dyer legislation failed, NAACP publicized the persistence of barbaric mob behavior in a nation supposedly devoted to fairness and the rule of law
James Weldon Johnson was a man of immense talents: lawyer, diplomat, journalist, teacher, and gifted writer. Most important, he was an effective and dynamic civil rights
leader. Johnson also managed to write prolifically and imaginatively. In 1920, he wrote “The Creation: A Negro Sermon.”
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Protest, Pride, and Pan-Africanism:
Black Organizations in the 1920s (cont’d)
- The NAACP
- Relied on judicial system to protect black civil rights
- Blacks barred from voting in Democratic primaries
- NAACP hired Clarence Darrow to defend Ossian Sweet
- Sweet acquitted of murder
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- In Detroit in 1925, black physician Ossian Sweet and his family moved into an all-white neighborhood
- For several nights a mob threatened the Sweet family and other people who defended them
- One evening, shots fired from the Sweet home killed a white man
Protest, Pride, and Pan-Africanism:
Black Organizations in the 1920s (cont’d)
- “Up You Mighty Race”: Marcus Garvey and the UNIA
Black nationalist movement
Racial pride, Christian faith, economic cooperation
By the early 1920s UNIA spreads throughout United States
With slogan “One God! One Aim! One Destiny!” Garvey stresses need for blacks to organize for their own advancement
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- Marcus Garvey’s UNIA became the largest mass movement of black people in American history
- Garvey was an energetic, charismatic, and flamboyant leader who wove racial pride, Christian faith, and economic cooperation into a black nationalist organization
- Garvey was born in 1887 in the British colony of Jamaica , becomes printer, travels to educate himself, lands in London, returns to Jamaica, and forms UNIA in 1914
Protest, Pride, and Pan-Africanism:
Black Organizations in the 1920s (cont’d)
- “Up You Mighty Race”: Marcus Garvey and the UNIA (cont’d)
Marcus Garvey: “Black Moses”
Established businesses that hired black people
Back-to-Africa movement: “Black Star Line”
Few African-American leaders admired him
Differed on strategy and goals
Believed every white man KKK
Indicted on mail fraud, sent to prison
Legacy persisted
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- Garvey came to the United States in 1916 just as thousands of African Americans were migrating to cities
- Builds UNIA to major movement
- Although Garvey and the UNIA are most frequently associated with urban communities in the North, the UNIA also spread rapidly through the rural South in the 1920s
MyLab Media
Document: Marcus Garvey Calls for Black Separatism, 1921
Jamaican-born Marcus Garvey arrived in the United States in 1916 and quickly rose to prominence as the head of the UNIA. Garvey appears here in a 1924 parade in Harlem, attired in a uniform similar to those worn by British colonial governors in Jamaica, Trinidad, and elsewhere.
- A dynamic speaker whose message resonated among the disaffected urban working class, Garvey built the UNIA into a major movement
- He urged his listeners to take pride in themselves as they restored their race to its previous greatness
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Protest, Pride, and Pan-Africanism:
Black Organizations in the 1920s (cont’d)
- The African Blood Brotherhood
Pan-Africanism
A desire for people of African descent to unite
Share heritage
Discuss ties to continent
Moderate (eliminate) colonial rule in Africa
Britain, France, Germany, Portugal, Belgium, Spain, Italy
First Pan-African Congress, London, 1900
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- In 1919, black men who had migrated to New York City from the Caribbean formed the African Blood Brotherhood as a radical alternative to Marcus Garvey
- The brotherhood rejected Garvey’s reliance on capitalism and his devotion to Christianity, but instead supported Marxism
- Garvey, Du Bois, Briggs, and other black leaders believed people of African descent should come together to share their heritage, discuss their ties to the continent
- Ultimate goal---to moderate or end colonial rule of African continent
Protest, Pride, and Pan-Africanism:
Black Organizations in the 1920s (cont’d)
- The African Blood Brotherhood
Pan-Africanism (cont’d)
Second Pan-African Congress, Paris, 1919
Pan-Africanism
A movement of people of African descent from sub-Saharan Africa in the early twentieth century that emphasized their identity, shared experiences, and the need to liberate Africa from its European colonizers
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- By 1914, Britain, France, Germany, Portugal, Belgium, Spain, and Italy had established colonies across almost all of Africa
- Christian missionaries sought to convert Africans, and European companies exploited Africa’s human and natural resources
- As they gained control over the continent, the European powers confirmed their conviction that they represented a superior race and culture
Protest, Pride, and Pan-Africanism:
Black Organizations in the 1920s (cont’d)
LO 17-2. In 1925, the Ku Klux Klan attracted small businessmen, shopkeepers, clerks, Protestant clergymen, farmers, and professional people and had an estimated _________members.
A: 100,000
B: 60,0000
C: 1 million
D: 5 million
Protest, Pride, and Pan-Africanism:
Black Organizations in the 1920s (cont’d)
LO 17-2. In 1925, the Ku Klux Klan attracted small businessmen, shopkeepers, clerks, Protestant clergymen, farmers, and professional people and had an estimated _________members.
A: 100,000
B: 60,0000
C: 1 million
D: 5 million
Protest, Pride, and Pan-Africanism:
Black Organizations in the 1920s (cont’d)
LO 17-2. The Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s stood for white supremacy, and welcomed European immigrants into membership.
A: True
B: False
Protest, Pride, and Pan-Africanism:
Black Organizations in the 1920s (cont’d)
LO 17-2. The Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s stood for white supremacy, and welcomed European immigrants into membership.
A: True
B: False
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Labor
- Great Migration
- Changes composition of industrial workforce
- Intensified pressure on labor unions
- Most major unions refused membership to black workers
- Management hired black strikebreakers
- NAACP, Urban League
- Appealed to employers, unions, to hire blacks
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- By 1916, 12,000 of the nearly 50,000 workers in the Chicago stockyards were black people
- In Detroit, black laborers made up nearly 14 percent of the workforce in the automobile industry
- By the World War I years, the NAACP and the Urban League regularly appealed to employers and unions to accept black laborers
- The chart illustrates the increasing number of black workers employed in industry and transportation sectors of the American economy in 1920
- In the next half century, that number would expand considerably while agricultural work declined in importance
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- The disparity in educational levels and job skills in 1920 is illustrated above
- These differences between black and white workers would decline in the next half century as barriers to education and employment for blacks were slowly eliminated
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Labor (cont’d)
- The Brotherhood of
Sleeping Car Porters
Black employees of Pullman Company
Single largest employer of black people
Affluent white people used to black servants
Paid less than white workers
12,000 men worked as porters
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- Pullman porters toiled for upward of 400 hours each month ( a hundred hours a week) to maintain the coaches and serve the passengers
- Porters had to prepare the cars before the train’s departure, and service them after arriving, although they were paid only for the duration of the trip
- They assisted passengers, shined shoes, and arranged sleeping compartments
Labor (cont’d)
- The Brotherhood of
Sleeping Car Porters (cont’d)
Affluent white people used to black servants
Some had college degrees
Considered themselves respectable middle class
$67.50 average monthly pay
Up to $300 with tips
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- Barred from business and industry, black men with college degrees often worked as sleeping car porters
- As poorly paid as they were compared with many white workers, they still earned more than most black schoolteachers
Labor (cont’d)
- A. Phillip Randolph
Socialist, committed to economic and racial change
Protest leader for five decades
Opposed American involvement in World War I
Arrested by Department of Justice, 1919
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- . In 1925, Pullman porters in Harlem invited A. Philip Randolph to become their “general organizer” as they formed the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters (BSCP)
- Randolph was a socialist with superb oratorical skills who had earned a reputation as a radical on the streets of Harlem
- Arrested in 1919, Justice Dept. labeled Randolph the most dangerous Negro in America
In this painting by Betsy G. Reyneau, A. Philip Randolph hardly resembles the militant agitator, activist, and labor leader that he was. He became the head of the BSCP, and he eventually rose to power in the AFL. He planned the first March on Washington in 1941 and was responsible for organizing the 1963 March on Washington. Betsy G. Reyneau, A. Philip Randolph. National Archives.
- A. Philip Randolph is an example of how determined leadership could overcome even the most entrenched opposition to change within large American corporations
- Randolph’s ability to communicate effectively to a large membership, as well as the public, brought about significant improvement of working conditions for thousands of Pullman employees
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Labor (cont’d)
- Phillip Randolph (cont'd)
BSCP
Recruiting, recognition, acceptance
Acceptance took more than a decade
Resistance from black community
Black clergy
Defender
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- Black clergymen counseled against union activities
- Black newspapers, including the Chicago Defender, opposed the BSCP
- Resistance from company—firing employees who joined union, created a company union, etc.
- Not until the passage of legislation during President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal in the mid-1930s did the BSCP make substantial gains
Labor (cont’d)
f
LO 17-3. In the 1920s, the NAACP continued to rely on
to protect black Americans and enforce their civil rights.
A: the FBI
B: the judicial system
C: the Republican party
D: legally procured weapons
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Labor (cont’d)
f
LO 17-3. In the 1920s, the NAACP continued to rely on
to protect black Americans and enforce their civil rights.
A: the FBI
B: the judicial system
C: the Republican party
D: legally procured weapons
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Labor (cont’d)
LO 17-3. One of the largest and most important unions which actively supported black workers was the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters.
A: True
B: False
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Labor (cont’d)
LO 17-3. One of the largest and most important unions which actively supported black workers was the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters.
A: True
B: False
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The Harlem Renaissance
- Explosion of creative arts in 1920s
- Proliferation of white and black artists
- Hemingway, Cather, Pound, Fitzgerald
- Many critical of American society
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- Black intellectuals congregated in Manhattan and gave rise to the creative movement known as the Harlem Renaissance
- Alain Locke promoted The New Negro
- Poets, novelists, and painters probed racial themes and grappled with what it meant to be black in America
- This timeline tracks only some of the most important vibrant cultural developments in New York during the 1920s and 1930s during the Harlem Renaissance
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Artist Aaron Douglas (1899–1979) was born in Topeka, Kansas, and was the sole black student at the University of Nebraska when he graduated in 1922. He moved to Harlem in 1925 and shortly after that visited Paris, where he met celebrated black artist Henry Ossawa Tanner. Douglas returned to Harlem and then taught art at Fisk University in Nashville from 1937 to 1966. His paintings reflected his deep interest in the African-American experience. Notice the Ku Klux Klan as well as black soldiers in this work. Aaron Douglas, Aspects of Negro Life, Oil on canvas, 60" ×139", Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Art & Artifacts Division, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundation.
- The Harlem Renaissance gradually emerged in the early 1920s and then expanded as more creative figures were drawn to Harlem including those such as Aaron Douglas who had exposure to international artists during his sojourn in Paris
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The Harlem Renaissance (cont'd)
- Harlem Renaissance
- As New York City became a destination for black migrants before, during, and after World War I, most of them settled in Harlem—a large neighborhood in the northern portion of Manhattan Island— which by the 1920s became a center of African-American cultural activities including literature, art, and music
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- No matter when it began, the Harlem Renaissance produced stunning artistic works, especially in creative writing, that continued into the 1930s
The Harlem Renaissance (cont'd)
- Before Harlem
Serious cultural developments among blacks before 1920s
Novelists, poets, historians
Need for scholarly academics stressed
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- From 1897 to 1928, the American Negro Academy was a forum for the Talented Tenth-- Alain Locke, Kelly Miller, and Du Bois reflected on race and color
- Charles W. Chesnutt --The House behind the Cedars, and The Marrow of Tradition
- Ohio poet Paul Laurence Dunbar wrote evocatively of black life, frequently relying on black dialect
- Henry Ossawa Tanner, painter who moved to Europe in 1893
- Carter G. Woodson, the son of Virginia slaves, earned a Ph.D. at Harvard in history and founded in 1915 the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History
The Harlem Renaissance (cont'd)
- Writers and Artists
Few blacks had access to college education
Zora Neal Hurston, Langston Hughes
Many black writers were educated at nation’s finest schools
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- Only about 2,000 African Americans were pursuing college degrees by 1920
- Nella Larsen was the only major writer connected to the Harlem Renaissance who did not have a college degree
- The Harlem Renaissance gradually emerged in the early 1920s and then expanded as more creative figures were drawn to Harlem
- In 1923, Jean Toomer published Cane, a collection of stories and poetry about southern black life
The Harlem Renaissance (cont'd)
- Writers and Artists (cont'd)
Publications featured Harlem Renaissance authors
Disagreements over purpose of black literature
Some wanted positive image of blacks in works
Langston Hughes defended authenticity of black works
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- In the meantime, the Crisis, as well as Opportunity, a new publication of the Urban League, published the poetry and short stories of black authors, including Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, and Zora Neale Hurston.
The Harlem Renaissance (cont'd)
- White People and the Harlem Renaissance
Zora Neale Hurston
Carl Van Vechten
Nigger Heaven
White supporters
Financial backing
Saw black culture as unsophisticated and primitive
Harlem inhabitant seen as
Exotic, curious, and uncivilized by whites
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- Zora Neale Hurston called the white people who took an interest in Harlem “Negrotarians” and her black literary colleagues the “Niggerati”
- No white man was more attracted to the cultural developments in Harlem than photographer and writer Carl Van Vechten
- In 1926, he caused a furor with his novel Nigger Heaven--novel dealt with the coarser aspects of life in Harlem, irritated Du Bois, Fauset, and Countee Cullen
- But Van Vechten wanted a more honest depiction of the black experience, and James Weldon Johnson, Walter White, and Langston Hughes approved of the novel
- White patrons like Amy Spingarn, whose husband Joel was president of the NAACP board of directors, and Charlotte Osgood “Godmother” Mason supported black writers and artists
The Harlem Renaissance (cont'd)
f
LO 17-5. A major disagreement erupted during the Harlem Renaissance over the definition and purpose of black literature with writers such as Claude McKay, Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston arguing that their work should .
A: portray the streets and shadows of Harlem and the lives of poor black people
B: promote only positive images of black people
C: not focus on the effects of Jim Crow laws
D: resolve racial conflict
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The Harlem Renaissance (cont'd)
f
LO 17-5. A major disagreement erupted during the Harlem Renaissance over the definition and purpose of black literature with writers such as Claude McKay, Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston arguing that their work should .
A: portray the streets and shadows of Harlem and the lives of poor black people
B: promote only positive images of black people
C: not focus on the effects of Jim Crow laws
D: resolve racial conflict
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The Harlem Renaissance (cont'd)
LO 17-5. No white man was more attracted to Harlem Renaissance than photographer and writer Langston Hughes, who in 1926 published a novel Nigger Heaven.
A: True
B: False
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The Harlem Renaissance (cont'd)
LO 17-5. No white man was more attracted to Harlem Renaissance than photographer and writer Langston Hughes, who in 1926 published a novel Nigger Heaven.
A: True
B: False
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Harlem and the Jazz Age
- Eighteenth Amendment: Volstead Act creates Prohibition
- Cotton Club: Harlem’s most exclusive nightclub
- Black waiters and entertainers
- Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington orchestra
- Thomas Fats Waller plays at Connie’s
- White, well-to-do customers
- Rent party
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- As powerful and important as these black literary voices were, they were less popular than the entertainers, musicians, singers, and dancers who were also part of the Harlem Renaissance
- Without Harlem, the 1920s would not have been the Jazz Age
- Harlem’s clubs, cabarets, theaters, and ballrooms echoed with the vibrant and soulful sounds of African Americans
She was called the “Empress of the Blues,” and during the 1920s no singer in America was more popular than Bessie Smith.
- The gradual expansion of African-American blues and jazz music into white communities was made possible by the advent of electronic recording and playback and the development of radio technology
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Harlem and the Jazz Age (cont’d)
- Song, Dance, and Stage
Broadway shows and revues includes black entertainers
Florence Mills
Ethel Waters
Smoky gin joints to Billy Graham Crusade
Serious drama
O’Neil, Gershwin, and Hammerstein
Paul Robeson
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- Black women became popular as singers and dancers in Harlem and then often appeared in Broadway shows and revues
- White men wrote many of the popular Broadway productions that starred black entertainers
- In 1921, however, Eubie Blake and Noble Sissle put on Shuffle Along, which became a major hit
- Sissle and Blake’s Chocolate Dandies in 1924 was created especially for a thin, lanky, dark, and funny young lady named Josephine Baker
- Baker moves to Paris to perform in 1925 and stays the rest of her life
Harlem and the Jazz Age (cont’d)
f
LO 17-6. was Harlem’s most exclusive and fashionable nightspot which opened in 1923 and catered to well-to-do white people.
A. Connie’s
B: Hot Chocolates
C: The Cotton Club
D: The Sugar Cane
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Harlem and the Jazz Age (cont’d)
f
LO 17-6. was Harlem’s most exclusive and fashionable nightspot which opened in 1923 and catered to well-to-do white people.
A. Connie’s
B: Hot Chocolates
C: The Cotton Club
D: The Sugar Cane
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Harlem and the Jazz Age (cont’d)
LO 17-6. One of the most popular Broadway productions of 1924 was Chocolate Dandies starring Josephine Baker who became a star, but moved to Paris the following year and never returned to America.
A: True
B: False
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Harlem and the Jazz Age (cont’d)
LO 17-6. One of the most popular Broadway productions of 1924 was Chocolate Dandies starring Josephine Baker who became a star, but moved to Paris the following year and never returned to America.
A: True
B: False
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Conclusion
- For blacks, little seemed changed from previous decades
- Racial violence and lynching continued
- The Birth of a Nation
- Scientific racism
- Ku Klux Klan had millions of members
- And millions more supported it
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- For African Americans, the 1920s must have seemed little more than a depressing continuation of earlier decades
- Nevertheless, positive developments in the 1920s gave hope for a more promising future
Conclusion (cont'd)
- NAACP
- Challenged the status quo
- 100,000 members in 1920s
- Racial pride and self-respect
- Harlem Renaissance
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- The NAACP became an organization to be reckoned with as it fought for anti-lynching legislation in Congress and for civil and political rights in the courts
- Its membership exceeded 100,000 during the 1920s
This chapter’s timeline highlights developments in the African-American community during the 1920s compared to national events in the second column
As the pace of urbanization increased in the United States, more blacks moved north for the economic as well as cultural opportunities denied them in the south
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Chapter Discussion Question
How did the intensity of white supremacy change by the 1920s from what it had been two to three decades earlier?
How did black people react to these changes?
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The African-American Odyssey, 6e
Darlene Clark Hine, William C. Hine, Stanley C. Harrold
Chapter 18
Black Protest,
the Great Depression, and the New Deal
1929–1940
Photographer Margaret Bourke White may not have intended to contrast the American dream of prosperity—for white families—and the harsh realities of life for black Americans in this Depression photograph, but it has become representative of existing racial disparity. The collapse of the economy spurred the search for radical critiques and solutions to deal with the desperate conditions millions of African Americans endured. Separate economic development and the creation of parallel institutions and organizations was one option. But was it practicable?
- The American economic boom in the 1920s brought many previously unknown consumer products into worker’s houses---washing machines, radios, refrigerators
- The Great Depression abruptly ceased that progress and for many African-Americans made even modest consumer goods unaffordable
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Learning Objectives
18-1 What caused the Great Depression of the 1930s and what were the economic effects on blacks in the cities and rural areas?
18-2 What were the varieties of protests continued by blacks during the Great Depression to address economic concerns and challenge racial discrimination?
18-3 How did the New Deal affect African Americans?
18-4 What was the “black cabinet,” its purpose, and its goals?
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Learning Objectives (cont’d)
18-5 What role did organized labor play in radicalizing black Americans during the 1930s?
18-6 What was the Scottsboro case and what were its consequences?
18-7 What was the Tuskegee study and its impact?
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The Cataclysm, 1929-1933
- The Great Depression
- Stock market crash
- Speculation
- Lack of federal regulation
- Inequality of wealth and income
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- National income fell from $81 billion in 1929 to $40 billion in 1932
- Overnight, millions of Americans lost their life savings in bank closings and home foreclosures
- Americans responded by buying fewer consumer goods, and, in turn, businesses cut back production, investment, and payrolls
The Cataclysm, 1929-1933 (cont’d)
- Harder Times for Black America
Catastrophe
Falling consumer demand for cotton and sugar
Lowered prices
Black sharecroppers and tenant farmers reduced
High unemployment levels
Last hired, first fired
Thirty-eight to eighty percent
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- The economic collapse hit African Americans particularly hard because most black people remained in the rural South mired in an exploitive agricultural system
- Hard times also struck those 1.5 million African Americans who had escaped the South for northern urban communities
- In Chicago, 40 percent of African-American men were unemployed; in Harlem, 50 percent; in Philadelphia, 56 percent; and in Detroit, 60 percent
MyLab Media
Video: The Great Depression
http://media.pearsoncmg.com/ph/hss/SSA_SHARED_MEDIA_1/history/MHL/US/visual_tool/TheNewDeal_02.html
The Cataclysm, 1929-1933 (cont’d)
- Black Businesses in the Depression: Collapse and Survival
- Binga Bank: important symbol of black capitalism collapsed in 1931
- Jesse Binga sentenced to jail for misusing funds
- Pardoned in 1941
- Atlanta Life Insurance Company survived
- Alonzo Franklin Herndon
- North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company
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- African Americans who had built successful businesses and professional practices in medicine and law suffered even more because the communities on which they depended were poorer
- Two types of black-owned businesses, banks and insurance companies, illustrate how black enterprises stood or fell during the economic crisis
- Insurance companies survived because companies such as Atlanta Life provided an essential service for African Americans, particularly in an era before government-provided social security
- The rising tide of unemployment, illustrated above, affected all American families, but African Americans were particularly hard hit, with rates of joblessness twice that of whites
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- The decline in agriculture was particularly steep, leaving sharecroppers and small farmers destitute
- Even low-paying jobs in industry were a distinct step up, so millions of blacks migrated from southern states to the North
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- The table above illustrates the benefits of black families gained by moving north
- While southern black families’ income was less than one-third of white families overall, in the North and Midwest, black families’ income was about one-half those of whites
- Black families earned over 20% more in the North than they would have in the South
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The Cataclysm, 1929-1933 (cont’d)
- The Failure of Relief
Charitable organizations responsible for relief efforts
Problem was too big when Depression hit
Local and state governments
Lowered tax receipts made relief efforts difficult
Government reluctance
Rigid ideology
Aid to businesses
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- Before Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal, private charities or, as a last resort, state and local governments were responsible for providing relief from economic hardships
- African Americans had a much harder time getting aid than white people and were given less when they did get it
- The Depression made it impossible for the nation’s charitable organizations to meet the needs of more than a small portion of the hungry, homeless, and unemployed millions
The Cataclysm, 1929-1933 (cont’d)
f
LO 18-1. The economic collapse of the early 1930s hit African Americans particularly hard because .
A: bankers foreclosed on black people’s homes first
B: urban areas were the most hard hit
C: most blacks remained in the rural South working in an exploitive agricultural system
D: southern states began deporting poor blacks to northern states
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The Cataclysm, 1929-1933 (cont’d)
f
LO 18-1. The economic collapse of the early 1930s hit African Americans particularly hard because .
A: bankers foreclosed on black people’s homes first
B: urban areas were the most hard hit
C: most blacks remained in the rural South working in an exploitive agricultural system
D: southern states began deporting poor blacks to northern states
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The Cataclysm, 1929-1933 (cont’d)
LO 18-1. Two types of black-owned businesses, banks and insurance companies, illustrated the 1930s economic crisis, with the Binga Bank surviving and thriving and the Atlanta Life Insurance Company failing.
A: True
B: False
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The Cataclysm, 1929-1933 (cont’d)
LO 18.1. Two types of black-owned businesses, banks and insurance companies, illustrated the 1930s economic crisis, with the Binga Bank surviving and thriving and the Atlanta Life Insurance Company failing.
A: True
B: False
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Black Protest During
the Great Depression
- NAACP campaigned against educational discrimination
- Political disfranchisement
- Led by Charles Houston, Thurgood Marshall
- Critical of American capitalism
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- During the 1930s, African-American men and women initiated their own agenda and determined to use every resource at their disposal to destroy the obstacles to racial justice and barriers to equal opportunity
- Black people benefited from the New Deal but less than white people did
- The disparity between black and white lives was a spur to action
Black Protest During
the Great Depression (cont’d)
- The NAACP and the Civil Rights Struggle
1930s NAACP takes leadership in civil rights struggle
Walter White—insistent voice of protest
Refused to be silent
NAACP pressed government to protect rights
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- Walter White was an insistent voice of protest, personally investigating 42 lynchings and eight race riots, and he was an ardent lobbyist for civil rights legislation and racial justice
- Walter White took a prominent role in the successful campaign to defeat Hoover’s nomination of John J. Parker, a white supremacist, to the Supreme Court
Black Protest During
the Great Depression (cont’d)
- The NAACP and the Civil Rights Struggle (cont'd)
Du Bois Ignites Controversy, 1934
Criticized NAACP focus on political rights
Resigns from The Crisis
Argues for economic agenda
Dubois criticized for advocating “voluntary segregation”
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- Many younger black people criticized NAACP focus on civil liberties and deplored it for ignoring the economic misery of most African Americans
- Du Bois advocated a program of self-determination he hoped would permit black people to develop “an economic nation within a nation”
Black Protest During
the Great Depression (cont’d)
- Challenging Racial Discrimination in the Courts
Charles Hamilton Houston
Lead NAACP campaign
State programs
Disparities in expenditures
Inspired community support
Education
Made separate but equal too costly
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- A dramatic expansion of its legal campaign against racial discrimination enhanced the NAACP’s effectiveness
- Central to this project was the hiring of Charles Hamilton Houston, a Harvard-trained African-American lawyer and scholar, to lead it
- Houston used lawsuits to force state and local governments to live up to the Constitution and to inspire community organization
Black Protest During
the Great Depression (cont’d)
- Challenging Racial Discrimination
in the Courts (cont’d)
Thurgood Marshall
Attempted to end segregation in professional, graduate schools
Many southern states had no separate facilities
Supreme Court’s 1938 decision in Gaines v. Canada
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- Houston convinced Walter White in 1936 to hire Thurgood Marshall
- During the 1930s, Marshall and Houston focused on bringing greater parity between the pay of black and white teachers
- The two men, working with a network of African-American attorneys, also attempted to end discrimination against black students in professional and graduate schools
- The Gaines decision encouraged Marshall and the NAACP to persist in challenging the constitutionality of the “separate but equal” doctrine.
Thurgood Marshall (1908–1993), Charles Hamilton Houston (1895–1950), and Donald Gaines Murray. In 1935, attorneys Marshall and Houston handled Donald Murray’s suit against the University of Maryland Law School. In 1938 Murray became the first African American to graduate from a southern state school. Thus began the relentless black attack against segregated education in America.
- The NAACP became the most important civil rights advocacy group from the 1930s to the 1960s by employing a wide-ranging legal campaign to defeat Jim Crow laws and other methods used by government and business to enforce segregation
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Black Protest During
the Great Depression (cont’d)
- Black Women and Community Organizing
Contributions
Fundraising, membership drives
Daisy Adams Lampkin
Juanita Mitchell
Ella Baker
Detroit Housewives League
10,000 members, 1934
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- Black women made exceptional contributions to the NAACP during the 1930s through their fund-raising and membership drives
- Three agitators for racial justice were Daisy Adams Lampkin (c. 1884–1965), Juanita Mitchell (1913–1992), and Ella Baker (1903–1986), who worked closely with White and the NAACP throughout the Depression and World War II
Black Protest During
the Great Depression (cont’d)
f
LO 18-2. sponsored a legal campaign, led by Charles Houston and Thurgood Marshall, against educational discrimination and political disfranchisement, and mobilized black communities.
A: The federal government
B: The NAACP
C: The Negro Women’s Franchise League
D: The Works Progress Administration
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Black Protest During
the Great Depression (cont’d)
f
LO 18-2. sponsored a legal campaign, led by Charles Houston and Thurgood Marshall, against educational discrimination and political disfranchisement, and mobilized black communities.
A: The federal government
B: The NAACP
C: The Negro Women’s Franchise League
D: The Works Progress Administration
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Black Protest During
the Great Depression (cont’d)
LO 18-2. In the 1930s, hundreds of thousands of black women joined “housewives’ leagues” which pledged to support black businesses, buy black products, and patronize black professionals, thereby keeping money in the community.
A: True
B: False
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Black Protest During
the Great Depression (cont’d)
LO 18-2. In the 1930s, hundreds of thousands of black women joined “housewives’ leagues” which pledged to support black businesses, buy black products, and patronize black professionals, thereby keeping money in the community. .
A: True
B: False
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African Americans
and the New Deal
- FDR
- African Americans support Republican party
- Last election black voters could be ignored
- New Deal programs shift black allegiance
- Agricultural Adjustment Act
- NRA
- Inadequate and unfairly administered but beneficial
- Prompted social change
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- In 1932, the third year of the Great Depression, voters elected New York governor Franklin Delano Roosevelt to the presidency in a landslide
- To counter the Depression, in his first term Roosevelt inaugurated a multitude of programs—collectively known as the New Deal—that would shift the allegiance of African Americans
- By 1935 the New Deal was providing more equal benefits and prompting profound social changes
MyLab Media
Document: E. E. Lewis, “Black Cotton Farmers and the AAA,” 1935
African Americans
and the New Deal (cont’d)
- Roosevelt and the First New Deal, 1933–1935
First 100 days: bold economic initiatives
No predetermined plan
Experimentation
Emergency federal relief
Benefited black and white people
AAA--Unevenly administered in the South
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- To combat the Depression, Roosevelt, unlike Hoover, favored experimentation over ideology as the guide to federal action
- With little resistance, Congress passed the president’s sprawling and complex laws aimed at overhauling the nation’s financial, agricultural, and industrial systems
- Roosevelt moved to counter the immediate suffering of the unemployed with a massive emergency federal relief effort
- The Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA), designed to protect farmers by giving them subsidies to limit production and thereby stabilize prices
African Americans
and the New Deal (cont’d)
- Black Officials in the New Deal
Roosevelt administration hired black professionals
“Black Cabinet”
Mary McLeod Bethune
Blacks gained allies and new influence
Potential voters
Eleanor Roosevelt
Commitment to racial justice
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- In addition to the benefits that New Deal relief programs provided, African Americans also gained new influence and allies within the Roosevelt administration
- First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt was revered for her relentless commitment to racial justice; she arranged meetings at the White House for black leaders
- A core of highly placed African-American social scientists thus became linked in a network called the Federal Council on Negro Affairs, more loosely known as Roosevelt’s “black cabinet.”
African Americans
and the New Deal (cont’d)
f
LO 18-3. One of the New Deal’s most important programs which helped black farmers was the , which was nonetheless administered unfairly and corruptly.
A: NIRA
B: AAA
C: FERA
D: Works Progress Administration
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African Americans
and the New Deal (cont’d)
f
LO 18-3. One of the New Deal’s most important programs which helped black farmers was the , which was nonetheless administered unfairly and corruptly.
A: NIRA
B: AAA
C: FERA
D: Works Progress Administration
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African Americans
and the New Deal (cont’d)
LO 18-3. New Deal relief programs provided some assistance, but African Americans had almost no influence and allies within the Roosevelt administration.
A: True
B: False
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African Americans
and the New Deal (cont’d)
LO 18-3. New Deal relief programs provided some assistance, but African Americans had almost no influence and allies within the Roosevelt administration.
A: True
B: False
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The Rise of Black Social Scientists
- Social Scientists and the New Deal
Growing receptiveness
Social sciences used to improve race relations
Dismissed black inferiority
Emphasized achievements and increased black morale
Carter G. Woodson
John Hope Franklin
Gunnar Myrdal
Racism undermined progress
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- The Roosevelt administration employed professional black architects, lawyers, engineers, economists, statisticians, interviewers, office managers, and social workers
- Many black intellectuals, scholars, and writers believed the social sciences could be used to adjudicate race relations, and during the New Deal they found greater receptiveness to their work than ever before
- Historians such as Carter G. Woodson, Lorenzo Greene, Benjamin Quarles, and John Hope Franklin argued that black people had been active agents in the past and not simply the passive objects of white people’s actions
Mary McLeod Bethune played a powerful role in Roosevelt’s black cabinet. In the 1920s she was the leader of the National Association of Colored Women (NACW) and later founded the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW).
- Daughter of former slaves, Mary McLeod Bethune took a leading role in education in Florida after moving there to work in a religious mission school
- She founded a college for African-American students there, which continues to this day
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Robert Weaver, along with Mary McLeod Bethune, was a co-leader of Franklin Roosevelt’s “black Cabinet.” In 1966 Weaver served as secretary of housing and urban development under Lyndon B. Johnson, the first African-American cabinet secretary. He spearheaded the passage of the Housing Act of 1968, which expanded opportunities for black home ownership.
- Robert Weaver highlights the role of black New Deal Democrats in the ongoing struggle for equal rights in the 1950s and 1960s, when he spearheaded President Johnson’s “Great Society” programs
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One of the most effective New Deal agencies, the WPA offered African Americans numerous opportunities for vocational training. Young men learned from experienced craftsmen. As this 1942 photo illustrates, the intricate lathe operations instruction prepared the trainee with skills that could be used in the defense industries.
- The WPA and CCC along with several other New Deal agencies focused on practical training and jobs for young Americans who were unemployed
- Because blacks and whites were eligible, these agencies helped break down racial barriers that seemed insurmountable
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The Rise of Black Social Scientists (cont’d)
f
LO 18-4. Many black intellectuals, scholars, and writers believed could be used to adjudicate race relations, and during the New Deal they found greater receptiveness to their work than ever before.
A: the social sciences
B: colleges and universities
C: women‘s organizations
D: the White House
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The Rise of Black Social Scientists (cont’d)
f
LO 18-4. Many black intellectuals, scholars, and writers believed could be used to adjudicate race relations, and during the New Deal they found greater receptiveness to their work than ever before.
A: the social sciences
B: colleges and universities
C: women‘s organizations
D: the White House
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Organized Labor and Black America
- National Labor Relations Act
- AFL unwilling to incorporate unskilled workers
- Committee for Industrial Organization formed
- Enabled more African Americans to unionize
- Interracial
- Multiethnic organizing
- Railway Labor Act
- Corporations must bargain in good faith
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- The relationship of African Americans to labor unions changed profoundly during the 1930s
- Before this time, most local unions affiliated with the national AFL barred black people or restricted them to segregated locals
- The railroad unions excluded black workers entirely
- The New Deal, especially after 1935, did much to transform the labor movement
- In 1935, the head of the United Mine Workers, John L. Lewis (1880–1969), and his followers formed the Committee for Industrial Organization (CIO)
MyLab Media
Document: Lester B. Granger Calls on Black Workers to Combat Discrimination in Organized Labor, 1934
Misuses of Medical Science:
The Tuskegee Study
- Worst manifestation of racism in American science
- Macon County, Alabama
- U.S. Public Health Service started experiments 1932
- Became public, 1972
- Poor black male sharecroppers not treated for syphilis
- Despite cures known in 1940s
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- The 1930s marked the rising prominence of black scholars and intellectuals, but, paradoxically, the decade also witnessed the worst manifestation of racism in American science
- This shocking episode of racial mistreatment occurred in Macon County, Alabama and medical experimentation on impoverished and vulnerable populations
- There, in 1932, U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS) officials initiated several major studies of syphilis, a sexually transmitted disease that can cause paralysis, insanity, heart failure, and eventually death
- The Tuskegee Study was called a treatment program, but it turned out to be an experiment, designed to chart the progression and development of a potentially fatal disease
- Although penicillin, which can cure the disease, became available in the 1940s, the sharecroppers never received it
- Instead, they were given ineffective placebos, which they were told would cure them
Misuses of Medical Science:
The Tuskegee Study (cont'd)
Worst manifestation of racism in American science
U.S. Government paid $9 million to survivors and descendants
Later apologized in 1997
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- For almost 40 years, Tuskegee Study doctors observed the men, keeping careful records of their health and performing autopsies on those who died, but they never treated them for syphilis
From 1932 to 1972, the U.S. Public Health Service conducted an experiment on approximately 400 black Alabama sharecroppers to trace the evolution of untreated syphilis. The men were never informed that they had the disease, nor were they given penicillin when it became available. On May 16, 1997, President Bill Clinton on behalf of the U.S. government finally apologized for this cruel and clearly racist experiment on human subjects.
- To gain the men’s trust, the government doctors centered their work at Tuskegee Institute and hired a black nurse, Eunice Rivers, who convinced the men
they had “bad blood” and needed special treatment
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Conclusion
- Notable and positive changes in 1930s
- Some examples of interracial alliances among political and labor leaders
- African Americans switched support from Republican to Democratic Parties
- New Deal laid foundation
- To challenge racial system, World War II
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- The New Deal had stimulated some economic recovery and, more important, laid the basis for a strong national state and a political coalition that, beginning with World War II, would challenge the nation’s racial system
- Chapter 18’s timeline focuses on African-American events during the New Deal and 1940s, contrasted in the second column with national events such as the Great Depression and President Roosevelt’s response to it
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Chapter Discussion Question
Why did African Americans abandon their long association with the Republican Party in favor of the Democratic Party? What role did Franklin Roosevelt play?
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The African-American Odyssey, 6e
Darlene Clark Hine, William C. Hine, Stanley C. Harrold
Chapter 20
The World War II Era and the Seeds of a Revolution
1936–1948
Racial segregation as practiced by the U.S. military reminded African Americans of their second-class status in America. The World War II crisis made impossible continued acquiescence to blatant inequalities. The black “Double V” campaign sought victory against racism on the home and fascism on the foreign fronts.
- The transformation of the American military during and after World War II set the stage for the development of the Civil Rights movement during the next decade
- The knowledge that real change could occur within the military, lessening segregation and discrimination helped spurred on African-American veterans as well as legal strategists at the NAACP
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Learning Objectives
20-1 How did African Americans use the World War II crisis to protest racial discrimination?
20-2 What role did African-American physicians and nurses play in the struggle to desegregate the military during World War II?
20-3 How did the Tuskegee Airmen contribute to victory in World War II?
20-4 How did the war exacerbate tensions and competition over housing and jobs between black and white Americans?
20-5 What were the positive and negative effects of the Cold War on blacks, both in politics and social life?
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On the Eve of War, 1936–1941
- Fascist governments take over Italy and Germany
- Rascism, anticommunism as core beliefs
- Aggressive foreign policy
- Germany, Italy, Japan expand through war
- U.S. Entry into War
- Pearl Harbor attack by Japanese
- American isolationists and neutrality
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- As the world economy wallowed in the Great Depression, the international order collapsed in Europe and Asia
- Germany under Adolf Hitler (1889–1945) and Italy under Benito Mussolini (1883–1945) created an alliance, known as the Axis
- These fascist dictators advocated a political program based on extreme nationalism that suppressed internal opposition and used violence to gain their will abroad
- Germany’s National Socialist, or Nazi, Party in part blamed communists and foreign powers for the nation’s economic depression and loss of power
- Even more than by anticommunism, however, Hitler was driven by virulent racism and his belief in Anglo-Saxon, or white Aryan, supremacy
- As Germany and Italy pursued their aggression in Europe, the empire of Japan sought to dominate East Asia
- Roosevelt has difficulty preparing for war because a significant segment of the American population, the isolationists, don’t believe we should interfere
On the Eve of War, 1936–1941 (cont’d)
- African Americans and the Emerging World Crisis
Growing black activism in support
Ethiopia, 1935, attacked by Italy
Spanish Civil War, 1936
Abraham Lincoln Battalion
Spanish govt. attacked by fascists, Nazis
Black volunteers
Communist vision of internationalism
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- When Italy invaded Ethiopia in 1935, black communities throughout the United States organized to send it aid
- Civil war in Spain stimulated renewed activism among leftist African Americans
- About a hundred African Americans traveled to Spain in 1936–1937 to serve with the Abraham Lincoln Brigade
On the Eve of War, 1936–1941 (cont’d)
- A. Philip Randolph and the March on Washington Movement (MOWM)
“Double V” Campaign: to defeat fascism abroad, racism at home
Rampant discrimination against black workers
Military, factories, shipyards, unions
NAACP and others organize protest rallies
FDR refused to meet with leaders
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- In 1939 and 1940, the American government spent so much on arms that the U.S. economy was finally lifted out of the Depression
- As unemployed white workers streamed into aircraft factories and shipyards, jobless African Americans were left waiting at the gate
- The United States Employment Service (USES) filled “whites-only” requests for defense workers
- A young African-American man wrote the Pittsburgh Courier suggesting “Double V” campaign—victory over fascism abroad and over racism at home
Horace Pippin’s (1888–1946) Mr. Prejudice (1943) hammers a wedge of racism through a giant V (the sign of victory). It is a powerful expression of black Americans’ ongoing struggle against racial discrimination, segregation, and violence even within a nation at war against fascism and Nazism and the spread of communism. Horace Pippin (1888–1946), “Mr. Prejudice,” 1943. Oil on canvas, 18″ × 14″. Philadelphia Museum of Art, Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Matthew T. Moore.
- Painter Horace Pippin was a World War I veteran who had been seriously wounded after being shot in combat, and took up painting as physical therapy for a paralyzed right arm
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On the Eve of War, 1936–1941 (cont’d)
- A. Philip Randolph and the March on Washington Movement (MOWM) (cont'd)
Randolph and MOWM demands
Government contract recipients end discrimination
End race-based exclusion from defense training courses
Require USES to supply workers on a nonracial basis
Abolish segregation in the military
Prohibited white participation in protest movement
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- In January 1941 A. Philip Randolph, president of Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters called on black people to unify their protests and direct them at the national government
- He suggested that 10,000 African Americans march on Washington demanding right to work to defeat fascism
- In the following months, Randolph helped create the March on Washington Movement (MOWM)
MyLab Media
Document: A. Philip Randolph Calls on Blacks to Support the Fight for Equality at Home and Abroad, 1941
On the Eve of War, 1936–1941 (cont’d)
- Executive Order 8802
Presidential order
End discrimination in the defense industry
Nothing about segregation in the military
Nothing about unions
Created the FEPC
Power to investigate complaints
Acknowledgement of some responsibility to protect black and minority rights in employment
Many industries (South) evade the intent
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- Many African Americans who had never taken part in the activities of middle-class-dominated groups like the NAACP responded to Randolph’s appeal
- Soon he alarmed the president by raising the number expected to march to 50,000
- Executive Order 8802 marked a significant change in the government’s stance
- It stated in part, ... that there shall be no discrimination in the employment of workers in the defense industry or government because of race, creed, color, or national origin
- To ensure full cooperation with these guidelines, Roosevelt created the Fair Employment Practices Committee (FEPC) with the power to investigate complaints of discrimination
Race and the U.S. Armed Forces
- Blacks assigned to segregated battalions
- Non-combat positions
- Kept out of more prestigious branches
- Obstacles to appointment as officers
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- Black men were expected to serve their country, but at the beginning of the war, most were assigned to segregated service battalions, relegated to noncombat positions, kept out of the more prestigious branches of the service, and confronted by tremendous obstacles to becoming officers
Race and the U.S. Armed Forces (cont’d)
- Institutional Racism in the American Military
American War College study, 1925 states
African Americans physically unqualified for combat duty
Naturally subservient and mentally inferior
No self-control in the face of danger
Less initiative and resourcefulness than white people
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Race and the U.S. Armed Forces (cont’d)
- Institutional Racism in the American Military (cont’d)
War Department policies, 1941
Segregate black soldiers
Serve in non-combat units
Ignored African Americans’ experience in previous wars
Dorie Miller
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- Based on this and later studies, the War Department laid out two key policies in 1941 for the use of black soldiers
- Although they would be taken into the military at the same rate as white inductees, African Americans would be segregated and would serve primarily in noncombat units
- In creating these policies, the military ignored evidence of the fighting ability that African Americans had shown in previous wars, confirmed by the heroism of Dorie Miller during the attack on Pearl Harbor
This World War II War Department recruitment poster recognizes the heroism of Dorie Miller (1919–1943) at Pearl Harbor. His bravery, however, did not alter the navy’s policy of restricting black sailors to the kitchens and boiler rooms of navy vessels.
- The U.S. Navy’s treatment of Dorie Miller highlighted the discrimination faced by black servicemen, despite their often outstanding efforts in battle
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Race and the U.S. Armed Forces (cont’d)
- The Costs of Military Discrimination
Nothing equal
Inferior resources
Denied in officers clubs, base stores
German prisoners of war received better treatment
One million black soldiers
Transportation and engineering
Port Chicago, July 17th, 1944
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- Although the War and Navy departments held to the fiction of “separate but equal” in their segregation programs, their policies gave black Americans inferior resources or excluded them entirely
- Sick and injured black soldiers were treated in segregated wards in military hospitals
- Black physicians could treat only black military personnel
- At army camps black soldiers were usually placed in the least desirable spots and denied the use of officers’ clubs, base stores, and base recreational facilities
Race and the U.S. Armed Forces (cont’d)
- Soldiers and Civilians Protest Military Discrimination
Black leaders mobilized groups to resist inequality
Dialogue with U.S. government
NAACP Letter writing campaign to President
William Hastie resigned as advisor on negro affairs
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- In military segregation, black American leaders identified a formidable but vulnerable target
- Employing a variety of strategies, black leaders mobilized the black civilian workforce, black women’s groups, black college students to resist this blatant inequality
Race and the U.S. Armed Forces (cont’d)
- Black Women in the Struggle to Desegregate the Military
Women’s struggle often overlooked
Long history of working with men
National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses
Mabel K. Staupers
Black nurses refused admittance in Army and Navy
Met with Eleanor Roosevelt
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- The most prominent example of black women’s struggle is found in the history of the National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses
- Mabel K. Staupers, its executive director, led an aggressive fight to eliminate quotas in the U.S. Army Nurse Corps
- Although many black nurses volunteered during World War II, the navy refused to admit them, and the army allowed few to serve
Mabel K. Staupers became the first executive director and later president, of the National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses (NACGN). With verve and perfect timing, she mobilized wide-ranging support to end quotas established by the military to limit the numbers of black nurses in the armed forces nurse corps.
- Although many black nurses volunteered during World War II, the navy refused to admit them, and the army allowed few to serve
- To draw attention to the unfairness of quotas, Mabel Staupers met with First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt in November 1944 and described black nurses’ troubled relationship with the armed forces
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African-American women nurses served at station hospitals at home and abroad. They resented the quotas and discrimination and fought to end segregation in the U.S. military. Still, black nurses such as Lt. Florie E. Grant provided expert care for POWs, as shown in this October 7, 1942, image of her in a hospital ward in England.
- African-American nurses were just as determined to battle discrimination and segregation in the American armed forces as male servicemen
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Race and the U.S. Armed Forces (cont’d)
- The Beginning of Military Desegregation
Breaking the hold of segregation
Persistent protest
Military labor demands
Navy
The Marine Corps
Army and Navy Nurse Corps, 1945
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- In response to the militancy of black officers, civil rights leaders, and the press, the War Department made changes and began to reeducate soldiers, albeit in a limited fashion
- In 1943, the War Department also produced its own propaganda film—The Negro Soldier, directed by Frank Capra—to alleviate racial tensions
MyLab Media
Video: The Desegregation of the Military and Blacks in Combat
Race and the U.S. Armed Forces (cont’d)
f
LO 20-2. Based on the 1925 Army War College study, the War Department laid out two key policies in 1941 for black soldiers:
.
A: they would not be considered for active duty unless there was a drastic shortage of white soldiers
B: they would be segregated and would serve primarily in noncombat units
C: they would serve at the front lines and be segregated
D: they would never be allowed to join the navy or air corps
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Race and the U.S. Armed Forces (cont’d)
f
LO 20-2. Based on the 1925 Army War College study, the War Department laid out two key policies in 1941 for black soldiers:
.
A: they would not be considered for active duty unless there was a drastic shortage of white soldiers
B: they would be segregated and would serve primarily in noncombat units.
C: they would serve at the front lines and be segregated
D: they would never be allowed to join the navy or air corps
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Race and the U.S. Armed Forces (cont’d)
LO 20-2. Sick and injured black soldiers were treated in segregated wards in military hospitals and black physicians could treat only black military personnel.
A: True
B: False
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Race and the U.S. Armed Forces (cont’d)
LO 20-2. Sick and injured black soldiers were treated in segregated wards in military hospitals and black physicians could treat only black military personnel.
A: True
B: False
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The Tuskegee Airmen
- Most visible blacks in Army Air Force
- Pursuit Squadron
- All-black men
- Distinguished service record
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- The most visible group of black soldiers served in the Army Air Force
- In January 1941, the War Department announced the formation of an all-black pursuit squadron of fighter planes and the creation of a training program at Tuskegee Army Air Field, Alabama, for black pilots
The Tuskegee Airmen (cont’d)
- Technology: The Tuskegee Planes
Had to master technology of complex flight
Airmen recognized for exceptional mechanical ability
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- Tuskegee airmen had to master the technology of complex machines
- The 332nd Fighter Group flew more different kinds of fighter planes than any other group of pilots during World War II
- They were initially equipped with P-40 Warhawks, then with P-39 Airacobras, later with P-47 Thunderbolts, and finally with the P-51 Mustang
The distinguished World War II record of the “Tuskegee Airmen,” pilots who trained and fought in all-black fighter squadrons, confounded the expectations of white officers who doubted that black men had the ability or nerve to pilot fighter aircraft.
- One of the key events that propelled the Tuskegee civilian air cadets to full-fledged active military service was the flight of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt with the African-American chief flight instructor Alfred Anderson
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The Tuskegee Airmen (cont’d)
- The Transformation of Black Soldiers
Exposed to a world outside the South
Raised questions about racial system
Some brought “radical” ideas
Soldiers a sense of themselves
Self-worth and dignity
Douglas Conner
“Not going back to business as usual”
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- A new generation of African Americans became soldiers during World War II, and the experience gave many of them an enhanced sense of themselves and a commitment to the fight for black equality
- They returned home with a broader perception of the world and a transformed consciousness
- Unlike the black soldiers in World War I, a greater percentage of those drafted at the outset of World War II had attended high school, and more of them were either high school or college graduates
Black People on the Home Front
- A dual war: Axis and discrimination
- War created new conflicts
- Black workers: From Farm to Factory
- Accelerated migration of African Americans
- Rural areas to the cities
- Black women found industrial jobs
- Union membership became more open
- Six-fold increase during war years
- Growth did not end racism
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- Black workers and volunteers helped staff the factories and farms that produced goods for the fight while also purchasing war bonds and participating in other defense activities
- Even though the farm economy recovered during the war, high-paying defense jobs and other urban occupations tempted many black farmers to abandon the land
- With so many of their men away at war, black women increasingly found work outside the laundry and domestic service that had previously been their lot
Black People on the Home Front (cont’d)
- The FEPC During the War
Executive Order #9346
FDR replaced the old and weak Committee
Increased budget
Alabama Dry Dock and Shipbuilding Company
White workers riot and rampage
FEPC acquiesced to traditional Jim Crow arrangements
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- After President Roosevelt issued the executive order banning job discrimination in defense industries with government contracts, thousands of impoverished black southerners rushed to cities in the Pacific Northwest, especially to Seattle
- In the Midwest and on the East Coast, many African Americans criticized industry’s failure to end economic discrimination
Before World War II, few white women and still fewer black women worked in heavy industries, but with so many men in the armed forces, women were recruited for jobs in shipyards and airplane factories, like this aircraft worker. Between 1940 and 1944, the percentage of black women in the industrial workforce increased from 6.8 percent to 18 percent.
- Although many black women lost their industry jobs after the war, the need for workers accelerated the Great Migration of African-Americans away from the South
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Black People on the Home Front (cont’d)
- Anatomy of a Race Riot: Detroit, 1943
Competition for jobs and housing: smoldering relations
Belle Isle beaches, June 20th
White mob attacked black men and women
Rumor that black woman had killed white child
White men roamed in search of more victims
6,000 federal troops sent to restore order
34 deaths
(Detroit police responsible for 17) and 700 injured
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- One of the bloodiest race riots in the nation’s history took place in 1943 in Detroit, Michigan, where black and white workers were competing fiercely for jobs and housing
- The immediate trigger for the riot was a squabble on June 20 between white and black bathers at the segregated city beaches on Belle Isle in the Detroit River
- Within hours, 200 white sailors from a nearby base joined the white mob that attacked black men and women
Black People on the Home Front (cont’d)
- Anatomy of a Race Riot: Detroit, 1943 (cont'd)
Mayor’s Interracial Committee
White citizens, reports blamed black leaders, Communist party
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- In the aftermath, the city created the Mayor’s Interracial Committee, the first permanent municipal body designed to promote civic harmony and fairness
- Despite the efforts of labor and black leaders, many white people in Detroit, including Wayne County prosecutor William E. Dowling, blamed the black press and the NAACP for instigating the riot
Black People on the Home Front (cont’d)
- The GI Bill of Rights and Black Veterans
Servicemen’s Readjustment Act
College tuition and stipends for books
Guaranteed loans, up to $2000
Purchase home or small businesses
Increase upward mobility
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- In 1944, President Roosevelt signed the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act (known as the “G.I. Bill of Rights”), legislation that would profoundly affect American life and society
- It rewarded the sacrifices and accomplishments of black and white veterans in the war with college tuition allowances, stipends for books, and guaranteed loans at low interest rates, with which to purchase homes or launch small businesses
- By 1947, veterans accounted for half of all college students
- The G.I. Bill made possible the upward mobility of a generation of American men who entered professions and trades and purchased homes that would become the basis of future wealth
Black People on the Home Front (cont’d)
- The GI Bill of Rights and Black Veterans (cont'd)
Black Veterans
Experienced racial prejudice
Did not receive proportional share of GI money
Did not experience the upward mobility of White GI’s
Mississippi approved 3,000 veterans home loans by 1946; only 2 go to African American vets
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- While many black veterans benefited from the G.I. Bill of Rights, they never received their fair share of funds and assistance
- Mississippi Congressman John E. Rankin sabotaged the transformative potential of the G.I. Bill by insisting that state and local veterans’ administrators control the distribution of the benefits
Black People on the Home Front (cont’d)
- Old and New Protest Groups on the Home Front
NAACP
Membership increases nine fold
Southern Regional Council, 1944
Interracial coalition
Congress of Racial Equality, 1942
Interracial group of Christian pacifists
Women’s political councils
Black college students
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- The NAACP’s membership increased from 50,000 in 1940 to 450,000 at the end of the war
- Much of this growth occurred in the South, which by 1945 had more than 150,000 members
- Supreme Court victories and especially close monitoring of the “Double V” campaign help explain these huge increases
- In 1944, southern white liberals joined with African Americans to establish the Southern Regional Council (SRC)
- This interracial coalition, an important example of the local initiative of private citizens, was devoted to expanding democracy
- In 1942, a far more strident group called the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) was formed
- It pursued different tactics from those of the NAACP, Urban League, and other existing civil rights groups
Black People on the Home Front (cont’d)
- The Transition to Peace
The end of WWII
Many of the gains made by black men and women were wiped away
Armed forces demobilized
Factories returned to discriminatory hiring
African-American community
Ready, willing, and able to demand fairness
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- Many of the gains of black men and women were wiped away as the armed forces demobilized and the factories began reinstituting the discriminatory hiring systems that were in place before WWII
- Access to fair, decent, and affordable housing remained a sore issue, as did the inequalities in educational opportunities and the continuing scourge of police brutality
The Cold War and
International Politics
- Desegregating the Armed Forces
Executive Order #9981, July 26th, 1948
Contributing factors
Czechoslovakia
Rising fears of war with Soviet Union
Threat of black men and women refusing to serve
Blockade on West Berlin, June 24th, 1948
Last all-black units disbanded, 1954
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- On July 26, Truman, anticipating war between the superpowers and hoping to shore up his support among black voters for the approaching November elections, issued Executive Order 9981, which mandated “equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed services without regard to race, color, religion, or national origin”
- Not until 1950 and the outbreak of the Korean War, however, was Truman’s order fully implemented
- The Korean War reflected the American Cold War policy of containment, which was intended to stop what American leaders believed to be a worldwide conspiracy orchestrated by Moscow to spread communism
MyLab Activity 2: Document: President Truman Integrates the Armed Forces, 1948
Creative Assignment: Assign the short document and its questions as a take-home assignment for students to complete and return for a letter grade. But first generate a discussion with students about why blacks fought for the U.S. during World War II, how they were treated by the federal government, and how blacks responded to discrimination during and after the war. Questions to consider include: Why did President Truman desegregate the armed forces? How did this decision impact the civil rights movement? The document can also serve as part of the body of primary evidence in a paper on blacks in the military during and after World War II.
MyLab Media
Document: President Truman Integrates the Armed Forces, 1948
African-American civilians demonstrated firm resolve to end racial segregation at home while Americans fought to make the world safe for democracy. The NAACP Detroit branch’s 1944 “Parade for Victory” featured pallbearers with caskets as they marched behind a sign that proclaimed “HERE LIES JIM CROW.” It conveyed the sentiment, if not the reality. But Jim Crow’s days were numbered.
- The importance of the black vote, the fight for the allegiance of the emerging nations, and the emerging civil rights movement hastened the desegregation of the military
- That led to newfound confidence that segregation across all of American society could be challenged
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Conclusion
- Dynamic period of black activism, 1940-1954
- Quest for racial justice in military and home
- FDR and Executive Order #8802
- A. Philip Randolph
- WWII transformed black servicemen and women
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- The years between 1940 and 1954 were a dynamic period of black activism and witnessed a rising international consciousness among African Americans
- The quest for racial justice in the military and on the home front became an integral part of the ongoing struggle for economic, political, and social progress
- President Roosevelt’s Executive Order 8802 was a significant victory for A. Philip Randolph’s March on Washington Movement and for black workers
Conclusion (cont'd)
- Cold War
- Created a hostile and hospitable climate for civil rights
- Dissenters found no sanctuary
- NAACP-LDEF met some success
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- The victory in World War II of the Allies—the Soviet Union, Great Britain, the United States, and dozens of other countries—over the Axis powers of Germany, Italy, and Japan marked America’s emergence as the dominant global power
- International events replaced the Great Depression as the defining force in the lives of African Americans
- This timeline illustrates the faster pace of political change that occurred as a result of wartime pressures
- The second column lists the critical events that led to World War II and its immediate aftermath
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Chapter Discussion Question
How did World War II change the status of African Americans? What were some of the consequences of black servicemen fighting in Europe against fascism and Nazism?
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