Jim Crow in the Army

• Read over the letter from Charles F. Wilson. – What is the

situation exists for African Americans in the military?

– Why is the letter titled the “Paradox of American Democracy?”

An example…• Port Chicago, CA

– Largest state-side military disaster of WWII

• Killed 320 and injured 390 men– Of that number, 202 of the

killed and 233 of the injured were black

• Navy did not allow African Americans to serve in combat. At Port Chicago, black soldiers were to load ammunition and explosives onto transport ships.– Sailors were not given any training

for this job• Not even given gloves

• White officers bet on which divisions could load the most ammo in the shortest time– Most of the munitions being loaded

were live (in that the charges were already in the bombs and torpedos.

• July 17th - 4000 points of munitions exploded, destroying E.A. Bryan and the Quinault Victory.

• The investigation– Only 5 African American sailors were

interviewed– Wagering on load speed was explained

as healthy competition– Officers in charge were acquitted– Blame put on African American enlisted

men who had died. • Aftermath

– No medical leave given to those injured– No survivor leave given

• Whites were given both– Survivors ordered back to their jobs

loading ammunition only weeks after explosion

– 250 men refused to return to their posts

• Threatened with mutiny charges (carried penalty of death)

• 200 agreed to stop “uprising” and were put in jail

– October 24, 1944 – All 50 remaining men found guilty of mutiny

• Served between 15 and 8 years in jail.

An Exception….

• The Tuskegee Airmen– Approximately 1,000

fighter pilots trained– 99th Fighter Squadron did

not lose a single bomber to enemy fire

• Best record in WWII– Awarded two Presidential

Unit Citations– Planes had signature red

tails – earned a reputation as “Red Tails” and enemy feared them

– Faced discrimination in combat and while on R and R.

Quick Pics…

The WWII Effect

What is going on in this picture? (The man on the left is a French soldier).

How you think the black soldiers were perceived in Europe?

The WWII Effect

• "I knew then that I wasn't going to go back on the farm. I knew that I was going to go to college somewhere. That's the thing that changed my life. I knew that a black man could do things other than mess around plowing with an ox, messing around cutting cross ties. That's the thing that changed me."

• "The French had a certain kind of openness and warmth that they exhibited towards minorities that was just unexplainable. You wouldn't know you were black when you were in their company."

And at home…

WWII: The Home Years• Executive Order 8802

– Designed to end racial discrimination in military and defense industries

– Fair Employment Practices Committee (FEPC)

• Put in place to enforce 8802– Gave over 2 million African

Americans employment• Wages of black workers quadrupled

– $457 to $1,976– Still significantly less the whites

• Discrimination in the workplace• Riots resulted from angry and

fearful whites who saw their jobs threatened.

Life under Jim CroweEtiquette• A black male could not offer his hand (to

shake hands with a white woman because it implied social equality. To make a physical gesture towards a white woman could imply rape.

• Blacks and whites were not supposed to eat together. If they did, whites were to be served first and some partition was to be placed between them.

• Under no circumstance was a black male to offer to light a cigarette of a white woman – the gesture implied intimacy

• Blacks were not allowed to show affection toward one another in public, as it offended whites.

• Etiquette prescribed that blacks were to be introduced to whites, never whites to blacks.

• Whites did not use courtesy titles of respect when referring to blacks. Blacks were called by their first names. Blacks had to use courtesy titles when referring to whites and were not allowed to call them by their first names.

• Blacks had to sit the back seat of a car or the back of a truck driven by whites.

• White motorists had the right of way at all intersections

Rules to live by:• Never assert or intimate that a

White person is lying• Never impute dishonorable

intentions to a white person• Never suggest that a white person

is a from an inferior class• Never demonstrate superior

knowledge or intelligence• Never curse at a white person• Never laugh derisively at a white

person• Never comment on the appearance

of a white female

Life under Jim Crow

Separate facilities were mandated by law: • Georgia: No colored barber shall serve as a

barber to white girls or women• Georgia: There shall be no burial of colored

persons upon ground set apart or used for the burial of white persons

• Alabama: All passenger stations operated by any motor transportation company shall have separate waiting rooms or space and separate ticket windows for white and colored races.

• North Carolina: The State Librarian is directed to fit up and maintain a separate place for the use of the colored people who may come to the library for the purpose of reading books or periodicals

• Alabama: No person or corporation shall require any White female nurse to work in wards or rooms in hospitals in which negro men are placed.

• Mississippi: White convicts shall have separate apartments for both eating and sleeping from the negro convicts

• Georgia: All persons licensed to conduct the business of selling beer or wine… shall serve either white people exclusively or colored people exclusively and shall not sell to the two races within the same room at any time.

Life under Jim CroweViolence was common• Riots

– White people provoked the incident

– Most occurred during hot summer months

– Rumor played an important role in most race riots. Most involved some perceived criminal activity by blacks against whites.

– Police force was invariably involved as a cause or perpetuating factor in the riots. Police most often sided with, participated in, or failed to quell the riots

– Fighting almost always occurred in the black community

• Lynchings– Between 1882 and 1968, there

were 4,732 documented lynchings in the United States

– Many whites found lynching to be distasteful, but a necessary supplement to the system of law

Bright moments:1947 – Jackie Robinson breaks the color barrier. First Rookie of the Year. Batting average .311. National League MPV in 1949. Stole home 19 times.

First President to address the NAACP. Made Civil Rights a presidential priority. Cited the Cold War as a reason for equality. Ordered the desegregation of the military in 1948.