Civil Rights and World War II Southern Defense

Civil Rights and World War II Southern Defense Industries & the Struggle for Racial Equality

World War II and Civil Rights ® Fight Against Fascism = fight for democracy…for all people ® U. S. has to set an example at home -gives civil rights advocates leverage ® Double V = Victory at Home and Abroad ® Jobs movement calls for equality in the workplace Desegregating the labor market ® Equal access to training and skilled jobs ® Equal wages for equal work ®

Victory at Home?

Industrializing the South & maintaining Jim Crow

Def. Industries come South

Segregated Labor Market

Skilled and “Unskilled”

The Jobs Movement ® June 1941 – March on Washington ® Labor, NAACP, NUL unite ® Threaten to march 100, 000 s on Washington DC ® Force FDR’s hand on international stage ® Executive Order 8802 (6/25/41) creates Fair Employment Practices Committee (FEPC) ® Voluntary enforcement of equal rights in defense industries ® EO 9346 (1943): creates new FEPC ® 1943 -1945 field offices file 1000 s of cases across the U. S.

Training African Americans

Manpower Shortage ® You. Tube (1943) - Manpower - World War Two ® How did New Orleans and Southern Industries respond to this crisis? ® How do employers maintain Jim Crow and meet the manpower challege?

New Orleans Defense Industries ® Higgins (Uptown, City Park, Ind. Canal) ® Delta Ship Yards (Liberty Ships on the Industrial Canal) ® Consolidated Vultee (PBYs at Lakefront) ® Todd-Johnson Ship Yard (Algiers) ® Avondale Marine Way (Avondale) ® Lane Ships (Industrial Canal)

Higgins Industries ® Higgins often promoted as a model of race relations for defense industries. ® In fact – he hired African Americans in skilled carpentry only – no welders.

African Americans at Higgins Eureka Magazine features stories

Waiting at the Station, 3/42

The 1942 Liberty Ship Contract ® Spring 1942 AJH gets $30 million U. S. Maritime Commission contract for Liberty ships - the largest ship contract in USMC history ® 40, 000 - 100, 000 workers to move to NO (!? !) ® AJH pledges to train black and white workers on equal basis – avoid unnecessary inmigration of white workers ® Praised by Eleanor Roosevelt (the kiss of death within conservative circles)

Andrew Jackson Higgins ® “Our company may be the means of showing that the races can get along well together with equal respect for the other and equal rates for the same work. ” Louisiana Weekly, April 1942 ® “In a nutshell, we are going to use plain common sense, and there is going to be no prejudice. ” to FEPC Spring 1942

Liberty Ship Contract Cancelled – October 1942 ® USMC blames steel shortage ® Higgins and Congressman Hebert blame oldline East Coast ship builders ® Black media blames local conservatives – (NOAC, YMBC, AFL Metal Trades) ® AJH to Fortune magazine, 10/42: “[local opponents] were afraid they might lose their chauffer or have to pay their servants more. ”

Higgins Features Diverse Workforce

Workers in Eureka magazine

Diverse Workforce with Asian Welders

Integrated Meetings in Eureka

Labor Agreement with AFL

Limits of Integration

Lunch Time

Higgins’ Civil Rights Record ® 1943 -5 numerous FEPC cases filed against unequal work conditions, violence and intimidation ® WMC reports indicate that many black workers quit rather than protest inequality ® Failed to use trained black welders – after announcing in the Louisiana Weekly (spring 1942) that they would do so ® Only carpentry open to skilled black workers ® AFL very conservative – white entitlement

Other New Orleans Industries Delta Ship Yards (Liberty Ships on the Industrial Canal) ® 1/45 upgrades black welders quietly ® Symbolic victory for skilled black workers Consolidated Vultee (PBYs at Lakefront) ® 6/43 CVAC hires African American women after lengthy negotiations with NOUL and federal officials) ® NOUL is a model negotiator for region

New Orleans industries resist ® Avondale ® No ® Lane ® No ® Todd Marine Way (Avondale) symbolic victory Ships (Industrial Canal) symbolic victory Johnson Shipyards ® 7/45 Todd-Johnson upgrade of black welder causes all-white walk-out.

Other Southern Def Industries ® Bell Aircraft in Atlanta – hired skilled African Americans to work in segregated building ® North American Aviation in Dallas – also hired skilled African Americans ® Consolidate Vultee in Ft. Worth – minor gains ® Aviation industry is more open

Other Southern Industries ® Shipbuilding – AFL dominated, and therefore little gains for Af Ams ® Ordinance – did hire African American women on seasonal basis

Out migration ® War Manpower Commission recruits skilled black workers for western and northern industries ® West Coast pay = $1. 50/hr ® Southern pay =. 75/hr ® Hanford and Oak Ridge, Kaiser, Boeing are considered “top priority” ® Southern employers resist

Personal Stories ® Arthur Chapman -advances at Pearl Harbor ship yard

Personal Stories ® David Cooper -Ford engine plants – -NO and Detroit -bought his house uptown

Af-Am Jobs Gains nationally 1940 -1944 ® African American men employed ® April 1940: 2. 9 million ® April 1944: 3. 2 million ® African American women employed ® April 1940: 1. 5 million ® April 1944: 2. 1 million Total: 900, 000 jobs gained (and eventually lost) Loss of political leverage

Victory at Home? ® Organized labor remains status quo on race and equality in the South – 1940 s-50 s Most black workers prioritize economic gains ® Out migration continues after WWII – west coast ® ® WWII failed to produce permanent jobs in NO – labor market returns to surplus Delta, Convair, Higgins all close -loss of over 50, 000 jobs in New Orleans ® ® Cold War eventually helps create jobs at Michoud and Avondale

Victory at Home? ® African American political networks gain confidence and expand across region ® Labor, Churches, NAACP - Voter Registration Drives in late 1940 s ® ILA 1490 largest black union in the South ® PDL – A. L. Davis, Ernest Wright

The Legacy of World War II jobs movement ® 1964 Civil Rights Act – est. EEOC, which makes equal employment rights a federal law ® The goal of achieving “equality in the workplace” came from this movement ® Skilled jobs open to all people – today’s defense workforce diverse.