Chapter eight: World War II and the Black West

CHAPTER EIGHT: World War II and the Black West
This chapter explores the momentous changes brought about by the wartime migration of thousands of African Americans to western cities. The first vignettes, The March on Washington, 1941 and Can Negroes Really Fly, provide the context for the civil rights challenges that would come in the West and throughout the nation. Japanese Internment--One Black Newspaper Responds shows how the Northwest Enterprise (Seattle) reacted to the growing anti-Japanese sentiment right after Pearl Harbor. African American Soldiers Defend Hollywood details the new roles blacks soon found themselves in after the War began. The next five vignettes: The Growth of Black San Francisco, 1940-1945, Black Women Migrate to the East Bay, Lyn Childs Confronts a Racist Act, Etta Germany Writes to the President, and Northeast Portland: The Growth of a Black Community, all reflect on various aspects of the migration and its aftermath. The vignettes Black Women in the Portland Shipyards and Black Portland Women and Post-War Discrimination focus on the experiences of women in the largest city in Oregon while Sex and the Shipyards and White Women and Black Men in the Portland Shipyards describe sexual tensions between black and white shipyard workers. Black Builders of the Alcan Highway describes the efforts of black soldier-construction workers to create one of the engineering marvels of the 20th Century. In Blacks, Whites, Asians in World War II Hawaii, we see how African Americans fare in a territory that, unlike the mainland United States, is not predominately white. The 1944 Port Chicago explosion and mutiny are profiled in The Port Chicago Tragedy. Finally, African American settlement in Southern Nevada is described in Las Vegas: The "Mississippi of the West."

Terms for Week Eight:
Executive Order 8802
Fair Employment Practices Committee
Harlem Hellfighters
The Committee for the Defense of Negro Labor's Right to Work at Boeing Airplane Company
Christian Friends for Racial Equality
Fort Lawton Riot
Lyn Childs
"hot bed"
Charlotta Bass
Nickerson Gardens
Thelma Dewitty
James v. Marinship
Vanport
Hunter's Point
Sue Bailey Thurman
Alcan Highway
Westside (Las Vegas)

THE MARCH ON WASHINGTON, 1941
In 1941 A. Philip Randolph, President of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and a black political activist since 1917, proposed a March on Washington to protest discrimination in the defense industry. Six days before the march was to take place President Franklin Roosevelt issued Executive Order 8802 which outlawed discrimination in defense plants and, in the process, opened jobs for all non-white groups except for the incarcerated Japanese Americans. Part of Randolph's call for protest is printed below.
We call upon you to fight for jobs in National Defense. We call upon you to struggle for the integration of Negroes in the armed forces....This is an hour of crisis. It is a crisis for democracy...It is a crisis of Negro Americans....

While billions of taxpayers' money are being spent for war weapons, Negro workers are being turned away from the gates of factories, mines and mills....Some employers refuse to give Negroes jobs when they are without union cards and some unions refuse Negro workers union cards when they are without jobs.

What shall we do?

We propose that ten thousand Negroes MARCH ON WASHINGTON FOR JOBS IN NATIONAL DEFENSE AND EQUAL INTEGRATION IN THE FIGHTING FORCES OF THE UNITED STATES.

But what of national unity?

We believe in national unity which recognizes equal opportunity of black and white citizens to jobs in national defense and the armed forces, and in all other institutions and endeavors in America. We condemn all dictatorships, Fascist, Nazi and Communist. We are loyal, patriotic Americans, all.

But, if American democracy will not defend its defenders; if American democracy will not protect its protectors....if American democracy will not insure equality of opportunity, freedom and justice to its citizens, black and white, it is a hollow mockery and belies the principles for which it is supposed to stand.

Abraham Lincoln, in times of the grave emergency of the Civil War, issued the Proclamation of Emancipation for the freedom of Negro slaves and the preservation of American democracy.

Today, we call upon President Roosevelt, a great humanitarian and idealist, to follow in the footsteps of his noble and illustrious predecessor and take the second decisive step in this world and national emergency and free American Negro citizens of the stigma, humiliation and insult of discrimination and JimCrowism in Government departments and national defense.

The Federal Government cannot with clear conscience call upon private industry and labor unions to abolish discrimination based upon race and color as long as it practices discrimination itself against Negro Americans.

Source:  Thomas R. Frazier, AfroAmerican History: Primary Sources, (Chicago, 1988), pp. 291294.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 8802
Following a dramatic meeting with civil rights activist A. Philip Randolph, President Franklin Roosevelt issued Executive Order 8802 which appears below.
Whereas it is the policy of the United States to encourage full participation in the national defense program by all citizens of the United States, regardless of race, creed, color, or national origin, in the firm belief that the democratic way of life within the Nation can be defended successfully only with the help and support of all groups within its borders: and

Whereas there is evidence that available and needed workers have been barred from employment in industries engaged in defense production solely because of considerations of race, creed, color, or national origin, to the detriment of workers' morale and of national unity:

Now, Therefore, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the statutes, and as a prerequisite to the successful conduct of our national defense production effort, I do hereby reaffirm the policy of the United States that there shall be no discrimination in the employment of workers in defense industries or government because of race, creed, color, or national origin, and I do hereby declare that it is the duty of employers and of labor organizations, in furtherance of said policy and of this order, to provide for the full and equitable participation of all workers in defense industries, without discrimination because of race, creed, color, or national origin:

And it is hereby ordered as follows:

1. All departments and agencies of the Government of the United States concerned with vocational and training programs for defense production shall take special measures appropriate to assure that such programs are administered without discrimination because of race, creed, color, or national origin;

2. All contracting agencies of the Government of the United States shall include in all defense contracts hereafter negotiated by them a provision obligating the contractor not to discriminate against any worker because of race, creed, color, or national origin;

3. There is established in the Office of Production Management a Committee on Fair Employment Practice, which shall consist of a chairman and four other members to be appointed by the President. The chairman and members of the Committee shall serve as such without compensation but shall be entitled to actual and necessary transportation, subsistence and other expenses incidental to performance of their duties. The Committee shall receive and investigate complaints of discrimination in violation of the provisions of this order and shall take appropriate steps to redress grievances which it finds to be valid. The Committee shall also recommend to the several departments and agencies of the Government of the United States and to the President all measures which may be deemed by it necessary or proper to effectuate the provisions of this order.
FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT

THE WHITE HOUSE,

June 25, 1941
Source: Thomas R. Frazier, Afro-American History: Primary Sources (Chicago, 1988), pp. 296-297.

"CAN NEGROES REALLY FLY AIRPLANES"
This was the question posed facetiously by Eleanor Roosevelt in April, 1941. The answer to her question appears in the vignette below, taken from an account of the black World War II era Tuskegee Airmen, described by Omar Blair, a Denver resident who became a member of the elite group.
Omar Blair likes to tell the story about Eleanor Roosevelt and the Tuskegee Airmen. He particularly likes the part in which the peripatetic outspoken wife of the president stood on a grass strip in April 1941 near Tuskegee Institute in Alabama and asked an outrageous question: "Can Negroes really fly airplanes?"

Months earlier four black schools--Tuskegee, Hampton Institute, Virginia State, and Howard University--had been named as the schools to offer the Civilian Pilot Training Program to black college students. With the increased threat of U.S. entrance into World War II, the War Department was being pressured to use black officers and pilots in the newly established Army Air Corps. The choice for this training was between Tuskegee and Hampton institutes. Eleanor Roosevelt had been chosen to evaluate their qualifications, to meet with Charles ("Chief") Anderson, the project director of the program, and to ask, as it turned out, the right question. As Anderson told it, he answered: "Certainly we can fly. Would you like to take an airplane ride?" When the Secret Service realized where she was going this time, they first forbade it, and when that did not work, they called her husband. FDR replied with the wisdom of long experience: "If she wants to, there is nothing we can do to stop her."

Thirty minutes later, Eleanor Roosevelt climbed down from the back seat of Anderson's Piper J-3 Cub, posed for photographers, and with a broad grin reassured everyone that, yes, Negroes could fly. Her return to Washington was followed by the birth of the Tuskegee Airmen, a victory in the history of participation of blacks in the military--except for one glaring failure: this unit, like all others, would be segregated and commanded by white officers. Blair, a former Tuskegee Airman and an imposing figure who led Denver's Board of Education during the 1970s, said with some delight: "But this failure is where the Establishment made its mistake--they put us on our mettle."

Why was this considered a victory? Because for the first time there was a real crack in the armor of white supremacy within the military--only a crack, but destined to widen....

Source: Joan Reese, "Two Enemies to Fight: Blacks Battle for Equality in Two World Wars," Colorado Heritage 1 (1990), p. 2.

JAPANESE INTERNMENT--ONE BLACK NEWSPAPER RESPONDS
Most of the press in the United States, and particularly on the West Coast, viewed the Japanese (both citizens and aliens) as a potential threat and eventually applauded the internment of the Japanese. One black Seattle newspaper, the Northwest Enterprise, however, challenged that view and immediately after Pearl Harbor, urged its readers not to succumb to the already growing anti-Japanese hysteria. It printed a rare front-page editorial on the subject which appears below.
For more than three long years, Japan and the United States have been at sword's point. It was a case of watchful waiting. Japan never ceased her vigil. Somehow, somewhere we have faltered. If we slept, it certainly was a rude awakening. The manner of attack, the loss of lives, the loss of ships and ammunition will always find a foremost place in the annals of our history.

As costly as was this treacherous attack, it served a higher purpose: A united nation meets the challenge. 130,000,000 Americans welded into an unbreakable unity. Not a man, not a woman will falter. The have but one determination, to do and to die.

Among these Americans are 15,000,000 Negroes, none of whom in their long and glorious record in wars, has ever smeared or fired on the flag. Nor have we ever spawned a Quizzling [sic] or a Benedict Arnold.

This war finds us in the midst of a glorious fight for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Today we call a truce to answer a higher duty, our country's call. If the Axis wins, we have no need for life, liberty or happiness. It will be beyond our reach.

The probability is that we have not heard the worst. But as long as war lasts, men, ships, and air planes must be lost.

Don't lose your head and commit crimes in the name of patriotism. As treacherous as was this unheralded attack on our country, it should bring no reprisals [against] innocent Japanese citizens on our shores. The same mob spirit which would single them out for slaughter or reprisal, has trailed you through the forest to string up at some crossroad.

These Japanese are not responsible for this war. They certainly are good citizens, they attend their own business and are seldom if at all found in court. Especially is it tragic that these native born should be singled out for abuse, insult [and] injury. Only when mob spirit abounds can they be made to suffer. Mobs and mad dogs spew their venom without reason.

And right here is where our vaunted Christian religion may make it's final stand. In your treatment of them ask yourselves: "What Would Jesus Do?"

The secret agents of this government will do a better job in ferreting out its enemies than you, and do it more efficiently.

Set an example for these un-American labor unions by your truce and unitedly tell them they too should suspend their strikes and direct their blows against the enemy, not their country and their homes in its hour of peril.

Lets' keep our record clear.
Source: Northwest Enterprise, December 12, 1941, p. 1.

AFRICAN AMERICAN SOLDIERS DEFEND HOLLYWOOD
In perhaps one of the most unlikely developments of World War II, African American soldiers who were part of the 369th Coast Artillery, and elite New York National Guard regiment dubbed "the Harlem Hellfighters," found themselves stationed in the backyards of Hollywood celebrities, as part of the defense of the West Coast against the anticipated Japanese attack on the mainland in the first months following Pearl Harbor. Here is a brief account of their experiences and reception by Hollywood.
The 369th was supposed to go home after a year's training. But a little more than a month before their hitch was up, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. A few months later they were sent to defend the Southern California coast and American race relations took another odd turn.

The 369th was ordered to set up their anti-aircraft guns in the backyards of some of the wealthiest white people in American, including a few of Hollywood's biggest stars. There, in the midst of elaborately coiffed lawns and landscaped gardens, twelve black troopers set up their tents in each yard and settled in for who knew how long.

Some residents were appalled by the Army-style integration of Burbank, California. William De Fossett, Regimental Sergeant Major of the 369th, remembers hearing someone complain: "We've never had negroes living her and now they're in our backyards with those horrible guns." The men thought the comments funny, particularly since some prominent members of the community--stars like Humphrey Bogart and Rosalind Russell--welcomed their defenders. Bogart told a group of the men that they were welcome to use his house and gave them the keys to show he meant it. And black celebrities like Lena Horne, Leigh Whipper, Eddie "Rochester" Anderson, and Hattie McDaniel came around to visit the troops.

In Burbank...the flexible identity of the 369th was emphasized. Their racial identity was, in the military command's eyes, subordinated to their role as coast artillery, anti-aircraft combat soldiers. The treatment they received from white and black Hollywood stars strengthened their sense of themselves as elite black soldiers...

Source: Beth Bailey and David Farber, "The 'Double-V' Campaign in World War II Hawaii: African Americans, Racial Ideology, and Federal Power," Journal of Social History 26:4 (Summer 1993:824.

THE GROWTH OF BLACK SAN FRANCISCO, 1940-1945
In the vignette below, historian Albert Broussard describes the rapid increase in San Francisco's African American population during World War II.
The Second World War was a demographic watershed in the history of black San Francisco. Although the city's black population had grown slowly throughout the twentieth century in relation to other black urban communities, it swelled by more than 600% between 1940 and 1945. And in the five-year interim between 1945 and 1950, black migrants continued to steam into San Francisco. By 1950, 43,460 blacks lived in the city where fewer than 5,000 had lived a decade earlier. Few northern or western urban communities had ever experience such rapid growth in a comparable period. With the phenomenal increase in the city's black population, San Francisco suddenly faced demographic change on a scale it had not experienced since the 1849 Gold Rush.

When the United States entered World War II, the nation's economy was transformed... High-paying jobs had become available, and despite the distance, blacks from across the nation, particularly form the South, were eager to move to San Francisco. It was the immediate availability of jobs, particularly in defense industries and in the Bay Area shipyards, that provided the major impetus for this demographic shift. By 1943, according to the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, the Bay Area was the "largest shipbuilding center in the world..."

And so they came by the thousands, each month, crowding into established black settlements and creating new ones. Sue Bailey Thurman, who would later organized the San Francisco chapter of the National Council of Negro Women, recalled that blacks were "scattered all over the city" in 1942, when she visited San Francisco for the first time. When she returned to San Francisco two years later she stated that "upwards to 40,000 blacks" were living in the city. "It had changed in just that time... The wartime black migration pushed the city's black population far ahead of the Chinese, Japanese, and other nonwhite races in absolute numbers...

San Francisco was not the only black community in California to register impressive increases in its black population. Six Bay Area counties made relatively large gains. Oakland, for instance, recorded an increase of 37,327 blacks between 1940 and 1945, a 341% gain. The East Bay community of Richmond, profiting from defense contracts and shipyard employment, registered an increase of 5,003% in its black population between 1940 and 1947. Fewer than 300 blacks had lived in Richmond in 1940, but the lure of shipyard employment had swelled that number to nearly 14,000 by 1947. Similarly, blacks flocked to Southern California, particularly to Los Angeles, in large numbers. The black population of Los Angeles was 63,774 in 1940, already the largest black community in California. Between 1940 and 1946 it increased 109%. Clearly, blacks were migrating to cities throughout the state in search of employment, but the San Francisco Bay Area registered the largest increases in percentages of its black population.

Source: Albert S. Broussard, Black San Francisco: The Struggle for Racial Equality in the West, 1900-1954 (Lawrence, 1993), pp. 133-136.

BLACK WOMEN MIGRATE TO THE EAST BAY
In the following passage Gretchen Lemke-Santangelo describes the experiences of black women in the World War II era migration to Northern California.
Migrant women...perceived California as a place of relative freedom for black people, a refuge from the harshest manifestations of Jim Crow. And since most migrant women were at a point in their lives where the limits imposed by the white world were particularly painful, California became a symbol of liberation... Filled with such images and expectations, migrant women began their journey in shabby "Colored" waiting rooms of train stations throughout the South. There, they encountered discrimination and indifference from white ticket agents who charged unfair rates, refused to give information regarding arrival and departure times, or ignored black customers until all white travelers had been waited on. From there they boarded Jim Crow cars located at the end of trains, and crowded with servicemen, baggage, and other migrants. Many women believed that this would be their final encounter with Jim Crow, of at least a final brush with this particular type of humiliation. They expected the West to offer them the opportunity to be "somebody," a place where they would be treated like human beings.

The journey, then, was perceived as a passage to a better place. Indeed, migrants who traveled by rail, referred to their carriers as "Liberty Trains." As these trains left the station, however, migrant women were forced to observe segregated seating and dining arrangements. This changes after the train crossed the Mason-Dixon line, the boundary dividing the "zone of racial separation" from that part of the country with an informal...system of segregation.... Ruth Gracon left Pine Bluff, Arkansas in 1940 to join her husband in Oakland... Alone with a new baby, Ruth boarded a Jim Crow car. "I remember crossing the Mason-Dixon line and being able to sit in a coach instead of the Jim Crow car. I think it was Kansas City. The Pullman porter was really nice--said that I could sit anyplace now..." Bertha Walker left Houston in October, 1943 to join her husband who had found work on the San Francisco waterfront. Bertha "rode out of Texas on the Jim Crow car...packed with military people." In El Paso, Bertha changed trains, and a soldier who rose to give her his seat said, "you can relax now, because we're at the Mason-Dixon line, and the Great White Father has to look up to you now."

The journey, while exciting, was also emotionally and physically exhausting. Many migrant women had never left the towns and cities where they were raised. And California, despite its golden image, raised fears as well as hopes... The East Bay grew significantly during the war years, taking on characteristics of a boom town. Richmond, in particular, looked wild and unkempt, with government housing projects, trailer parks, cafes, bars, and clubs springing up on swampy vacant lots north and west of the city. New arrivals, unable to find housing, were sleeping in cars and parks. And everywhere, at all hours, people in work clothes...were going back and forth from the defense plants.

Ruth Cherry arrived in Oakland while her husband was at work. At the station....she called a cab to take her to the room her husband had rented. He came home in work clothes, and she started crying when she saw him. "I had never seen him in coveralls and dirty. He was a barber by trade, and always clean." Migrant women, who expected a land of sunshine and orange groves, were immediately disenchanted with the weather. By most...accounts, the years between 1940-1945 were unusually cold, foggy, and rainy. Willa Henry, who drove out with relatives, sent her only winter coat by train with her other belongings. "The night we got there my uncle took us out to eat at Slim Jenkins [an Oakland nightclub] and I thought I would freeze to death coming out of that warm climate.... Canary Jones remembers the rain and mud... "I can remember the hills above Richmond looking so dismal. It was raining a lot then. We were upstairs in the project and the wind would blow and blow, and I would cry and cry..."

Source: Gretchen J. Lemke-Santangelo, "A Long Road to Freedom: African American Migrant Women and Social Change in the San Francisco East Bay Area, 1940-1950," (PhD. dissertation, Duke University, 1993), pp. 96-102.