During the years of 1939 through 1945, the United States of America was facing two problems concerning racial issues. First, Hitler attacked and exterminated Gypsies and Jews in Europe, and started the Second World War. The United States was fighting this “global antidiscrimination program” in Japan, Italy, and France, having joined the allies. This war was the external race problem. The second race issue was domestic and was directly related to the internal interrelationships between the whites and the blacks. While white people were only concerned with defeating Hitler and the Axis, the blacks were more preoccupied with the Double V, a concept that refers to effectively resolving both race problems, – external and internal. Thus, it was much harder for the blacks to go through the war years, because first, those in the military served in much less acceptable conditions, and secondly, those at home have endured racial discrimination nearly everywhere at home country.
The blacks have fought in nearly all American Wars, starting from the Civil War and ending with Vietnam War. The World War II was not an exception. However, racial issues in America and frictions between the whites and the blacks have been very tense at those times (because Martin Luther King, Jr. was only about 14 years old then), and the “colored people” (a widely used term back then, which was not considered offending) were not only segregated, but were purposefully left aside from the growing economy. The benefits were left for the whites. It is common knowledge that wars fed American economy, however in both civilian and military sectors blacks have experienced very tough times finding jobs. Andrew E. Kersten, a professor from the University of Wisconsin, author of the article African-Americans and the World War II, included statistical evidence of harsh job discrimination instances, such as “in Indiana [African-Americans were barred] 9,331 out of 9,979 [job openings] (94 percent). ” In addition, the military sector had even more harsh attitude towards black incumbents, which were generally considered poorer soldiers. Thus, barring the multiple black vs. white bloody conflicts which commonly occurred throughout the country outside the workplace, the blacks were also discriminated and segregated within their country, and at the same time ironically, this allegedly democratic country fought racism abroad.
Fortunately, Executive Order 8802, signed by contemporary President Franklin Roosevelt, has changed the situation within the country up till now. The creation of Fair Employment Practices Committee was a turning point, where Franklin said, “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. ” The changes in black unemployment rates (and in fact other demographic indicators such as death) have dropped immediately as the blacks migrated to the West and North for vacant jobs. However, this law alone was not enough, because the white population – employers in particular – have not been culturally and morally ready to easily hire blacks. As a result, such organizations as CORE have been created, and other organizations such as NAACP have been asked for assistance. These organizations protected civil rights and fought for equal employment rights and desegregation. Only after intrusion of such organizations as NAACP and CORE, the FEPC began to demonstrate significant change, and the blacks have finally felt the economic growth themselves, working on jobs. It is important to note that blacks have been accepted both in general jobs, and in military, which means the blacks have been fighting for the Double V fully: at home, and abroad.
The negative side of this fortunate story is that although legally the blacks could not have been pressed and discriminated, the white people needed time to accept the new policy. Blacks have worked and served military services in much poorer conditions, sometimes so dangerous that there were instances of deaths. Nonetheless, the spirit of blacks to fight for the Double V was very strong despite the failures and misfortunes. Kersten states in his article that FBI has concluded that “while cynicism was found in nearly every black community, so was the strong desire to aid the war effort. ” But these differences in job conditions and the informal attitudes of the whites could not leave the war morale of the nation’s forces unaffected. Kersten writes again that, “…although most African-Americans supported the war, racism undercut the government’s efforts to build a unified nation at wartime. ”
Eventually, over a million black soldiers served in WW2. Despite the difficulties, there were prominent soldiers and regiments. Unfortunately, they only received medals many years later during Clinton’s Administration.
With the support of multiple civil organizations and the legal support of the jurisdiction, the African-American population of the United States had started to win domestic half of their Double V agenda with multiple victims and blood. And on May 8th, 1945 with the defeat of fascism, the external part of this Double V agenda has also been completed. Thus, African-Americans deserve double respect for their participation in the World War II, because they were fighting two wars – at home and abroad – and won both!
Bibliography
1. National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). (2006). Wikipedia – the free encyclopedia. Retrieved June 26th, 2006 from http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Naacp
2. Congress of Racial Equality. (2006). Wikipedia – the free encyclopedia. Retrieved June 26th, 2006 from http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Congress_of_Racial_Equality
3. Martin Luther King, Jr. (2006). Wikipedia – the free encyclopedia. Retrieved June 26th, 2006 from http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King
4. Professor Andrew E. Kersten. (2006). Green Bay. University of Wisconsin. Retrieved June 26th, 2006 from http://www. uwgb. edu/kerstena/index2. htm
5. Fair Employment Practices Committee. (2006). Wikipedia – the free encyclopedia. Retrieved June 26th, 2006 from http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/FEPC
6. Our Documents: Executive Order 8802 – Prohibition of Discrimination in the Defense Industry. (1941). Franklin D. Roosevelt Library & Museum. Retrieved June 26th, 2006 from http://www. fdrlibrary. marist. edu/odex8802. html
7. Garamone, J. (2003). Army Finally Recognizes WWII Black Heroes. United States Department of Defense. Retrieved June 26th, 2006 from http://www. defenselink. mil/news/Jan1997/n01151997_9701154. html