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African-Americans & World War II Double V or Win the War First?

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KKK lynching

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Lynching Average of 56 blacks lynched in US between 1882 and 1935. Congress refused to pass anti-lynching bill.

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Conditions in US in 1940 Jim Crow laws 3,000 blacks lynched 1882-1935 Congress refused to pass anti-lynching One black member in Congress Limited voting rights Discrimination in every aspect of American life--sports to armed services

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A Unified US in WWII? Whites unified in desire for victory Blacks wanted victory and end to racism 38% believed end to racism in US more important than defeating Germany 18% said Japanese would treat them better than Americans

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Black and the press White newspapers rarely reported any news from the Black community Unless it concerned a crime To white Americans Black community did not exist Most considered Blacks inferior in all ways to whites Not just a Southern point-of-view

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Black media Pittsburgh Courier---350,000 Chicago Defender--230,000 Baltimore Afro-American--170,000 Norfolk Journal--100,000 Black press demanded a Double V-- victory against fascism abroad and at home

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Pittsburgh Courier--most militant Long series comparing Nazi racism with racism in Georgia Only difference was that the Nazis were trying to do what was common place in Georgia Of course that wasnt true and the paper didnt know about the Holocaust But the point was how do you fight for freedom if you dont have freedom

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When Black press reported on real racial conditions in the South When it reported on Black soldiers being beaten at Southern bases When it reported the details of war industry factories refusing to hire blacks The reaction of the federal government was to investigate the press for sedition FBI--J. Edgar Hoover was especially determined to prove press disloyal

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Robert Vann, Pitt. Courier Robert Abbott, Chicago Defender

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WWII a white mans war Why should I shed my blood for FDRs America, for Cotton Ed Smith and Senator Bilbo, for the whole Jim Crow, Negro hating South for low paid jobs, dirty jobs for which Negroes have to fight, for the few dollars of relief and the insults, discrimination, policy brutality, and perpetual poverty to which Negroes are condemned even in the more liberal North.

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Black Newspapers WWII Ted Carrell Amsterdam New York Star

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Charles Alston, Chicago Bee, 1943

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George Mercer, Baltimore Afro-American, 1942

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Double V Campaign

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Internal migration

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Job discrimination

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Discrimination in war factories Vultee Air factory: It is not the policy of this company to employ other than of the Caucasian race. Standard Steel of Kansas City: We have never had a Negro worker in 25 years and dont intend to start now. But both did have to start to hire black workers

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A Philip Randolph

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FEPC FDR Executive Order # 8802 Alabama rejected a war contract No enforcement provisions But simple math created new democracy War production needed workers and black and women filled the call

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Black War Workers

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Race Riots--1943 Americans maul and murder each other as Hitler wins a battle in the nations most explosive city

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34 blacks killed but police only arrested blacks

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White mob roams city

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Race riots in Detroit, New York 4 days in Zoot Suit Los Angeles

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Langston Hughes Looky here, America What you done done-- Let things drift Until the riots come. Now you policeman Let the mobs run free; I reckon you dont care Nothing about me You tell me that hitler Is a mighty bad man I guess he took lessons From the ku kulx klan You jim crowed me Before hitler rose to power And youre STILL jim crowing me Right now, this very hour Yet you say were fighting For democracy

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The Armed Forces Baltimore Afro-American 1943

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Beaumont, Texas mob attacked blacks Martial law In Marianna, Florida black taken from jail and beaten to death A black soldier shot to death after refusing to ride in the back of a bus

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Armed Forces Nowhere was discrimination against blacks more troubling that in the armed forces Navy--only as a cook or messman Marines--not allowed Army Air Force--no In 1940 4,700 blacks in service--all in segregated units--by 1943 500,000 blacks in the army

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But Was it?

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Jim Horton Im just a Negro soldier Fighting for Democracy A thing Ive often heard of But very seldom see... They expect me to be loyal But in my heart Im not For how can a second-class citizen Be a first class patriot?

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Discrimination in Armed Forces

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Selective Service Director Lewis Hershey What we are doing, of course, is simply transferring descrimination from everyday life into the army. But discrimination already in the armed forces

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General Ben O. Davis West Point--no one would talk Commander of 332nd--the Tuskegee flyers Flew 60 missions The 332nd lost only 25 bombers in over 200 missions

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Tuskegee Airmen

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Southern Camps/Northern Soldiers White officers--black soldiers Separate training facilities Poor housing, bad rations No r&r for black soldiers in Southern towns White MPs regularly beat black soldiers Black guards took German POWs to local restaurants--but could not go in Race riots on army bases throughout the south

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White soldiers refused to salute black officers Separate PX and water fountains Yet by end of the war more than 1 million blacks served 1940 2 black officers--1945 7,000

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Black medics at Normandy, 1944

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Soldiers

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Conditions for Black Pilots Segregation enforced--only white officers could train black flyers Black pilots could not fly to or from fields where white pilots were stationed Black and white pilots could not fly together Not until 1943/1944 did Tuskegee pilots see action in Europe Did an outstanding job--film Tuskegee Airman (1995) Laurence Fishburne does an excellent job of showing racial hated of black pilots by whites

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Chicago Standard

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Joe Lewis

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Joe Lewis in uniform

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Admiral Nimitz and Dorrie Miller

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Movies

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Stepin Fetchit Lena Horne Ethel Waters