Notes 5: Racial Turmoil Modern US History Unit 3 WWII April 7th, 2011

Racial tensions existed in the United States long before the onset of World War II. However, after the bombing of Pearl Harbor issues began to arise in different ethnic communities around the country surrounding labor and military service.

The March on Washington and Executive Order 8802 Recognizing that possibility of war, defense contractors began to hire more workers in their factories. Before the war began, 75% of defense contractors refused to hire African Americans, and another 15% would only hire them for unskilled work, such as a janitor.

The March on Washington and Executive Order 8802 A man by the name of A. Philip Randolph, who was a prominent union leader, strongly opposed such discrimination in industry and in the armed forces. He decided that the best way to show the African American community’s discontent would be to organize a march on Washington.

The March on Washington and Executive Order 8802 He called on African Americans from all over the country to unit in the capital on July 1 st, 1941 under the banner: “We Loyal Colored Americans Demand the Right to Work and Fight for Our Country ”

The March on Washington and Executive Order 8802 Fearing the public response from such a march, FDR called Randolph to the White House and asked him to back down. Randolph refused. He told FDR he was planning on bringing 100,000 protestors to the segregated city to stand united against discrimination.

The March on Washington and Executive Order 8802 Knowing that the city could not support such an influx of people, FDR backed down. In exchange for Randolph calling off the march, FDR issued Executive Order Issued in June of 1941, this order prohibited racial discrimination in defense industries.

Prediction: At what other point in US history do we hear about a March on Washington?

Minorities in the Armed Services For many minority groups the war created a dilemma – why should we fight for democracy abroad when we are denied basic rights at home? However the reality of the Nazi and Fascist regimes was a powerful motivator, causing thousands to enlist to defend the nation.

African Americans More than a million African Americans joined the military, but were forced to live and work in segregated units. They were limited to mostly non-combat roles. Many of the soldiers felt that they were not being given a fair chance to help win the war. By 1943, these soldiers were finally able to see battle.

Tuskegee Airmen Officially the 99 th Fighter Squadron and 332 nd Fighter Groups, the Tuskegee Airmen were the first African American military pilots in US military history. Nearly one thousand pilots trained and graduated at an Air Force base in Tuskegee, Alabama.

Tuskegee Airmen Of this 1,000 only 450 served overseas, first being sent to participate in Operation Torch in North Africa, and then on to Sicily an the rest of Italy. The pilots were incredibly successful in their time overseas, taking out countless German aircrafts, railroad cars and destroyers, all while maintaining an almost perfect record of not losing any US planes.

Tuskegee Airmen Despite their successes, the pilots frequently experienced racism and bigotry both at home and abroad. In one instance several pilots were denied access to an Officers Club at a base in Indiana, which escalated into a physical fight leading to the arrest of 103 African American officers.

Buffalo Soldiers Created in 1866, the Buffalo Soldiers were an African American Cavalry Regiment of the US Army. Initially more labor oriented, during WWII the Buffalo Soldiers became a more active combat unit. There were several different divisions that served in both the Pacific Theater as well as the Mediterranean Theater.

Double V Campaign Similar to the Great Migration of the 1920’s, with the growing defense industries in large urban centers, many African Americans moved to the North to find work. This increased tensions between the white and black populations in urban. African American communities soon promoted the idea of the Double V – victory over fascism abroad and victory over discrimination at home.

Double V Campaign

Race Riots in Detroit In Detroit, within the first two years of war the city’s population grew by almost half a million. Tensions between black and white citizens continued to grow until in June 1943 they came to a head.

Race Riots in Detroit What began as a fight between one young black man with a white man turned large confrontations between groups of young black and whites, eventually turning into a 3 day long race riot. Nearly 1,800 people were arrested after mobs assaulted each other, broke into stores and looted their contents and set buildings and cars on fire.

Mexican Americans Nearly half a million Mexican Americans joined the US military at the onset of the war. All-Latino units saw heavy action in both the Pacific and Europe. There were three important Latino units in the Pacific, one of which was part of the Baatan Death March. In Europe, 141 st regiment of the 36 th infantry was the first to land in Italy at Salerno and helped to push the Allies north.

Zoot Suit Riot In Los Angeles in 1943, tensions began to rise between the Mexican American community and the young servicemen that were stationed there. Groups of soldiers found themselves in heated verbal disagreements with young Mexican Americans, identifiable by the zoot suits that they were wearing.

Zoot Suit Riot This led to a violent riot that lasted only a few days. During the riots, thousands of servicemen marched down streets and into bars or homes and would assault any young Latino man they found there.

Zoot Suit Riot As the violence escalated to include other ethnicities, the Navy and Marine command staff intervened confining soldiers to their barracks and declaring LA off limits.

Native Americans In addition, approximately 25,000 Native Americans enlisted at the beginning of the war. This is an incredible amount of soldiers in comparison to the general population of Native Americans.

Native Americans For many, this was the first time they were able to leave the reservation and interact with non- Indians. Unlike African Americans, Native Americans were not forced to have segregated units.

Asian Americans Asian Americans represented a large section of the American military during WWII. Nearly 13,000 Chinese Americans joined the armed forces – namely one in every five adult Chinese male in the country

Asian Americans In addition, 33,000 Japanese Americans enlisted. Many volunteered to serve as spies or interpreters during the war in the Pacific.

442nd Infantry Regiment The 442 nd Infantry Regiment was a completely Japanese American unit that fought predominately in Italy, southern France and Germany. This unit became the most highly decorated unit of that size in military history – it included 21 recipients of the Medal of Honor. However, many of the families of these soldiers were subject to internment.

Executive Order 9066 Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, the War Department ordered all Japanese Americans living on Hawaii had to be removed from the islands. Because this was nearly 1/3 of the Hawaiian population, the governor protested. The government then chose to intern or confine these citizens to a certain area.

Executive Order 9066 Rumors began to spread that Japanese Americans on the West coast were in fact spies for Japan and were helping to sabotage American war efforts. The paranoia spread to the greater population who began to take it out on the Japanese American population.

Executive Order 9066 On February 19 th, 1942, FDR signed Executive Order This required that all people of Japanese ancestry be relocated from their homes on the West coast. It stipulated that they be sent to internment camps for the remainder of the war for the sake of national security.

Internment Camps Nearly 110,000 Japanese Americans were relocated during this time, 2/3 of which were Nisei, or Japanese Americans who were born in America. They were sent to 10 different camps around the country.

Internment Camps

OPEN READER TO PG 144

Internment Camps Near the end of the war, many of the Japanese who were interned were allowed to leave the camps for sponsored work. Those who enlisted were also able to leave the internment camps – many of the members of 442 nd were a result of this.

Korematsu v US During this period of internment, a man named Fred Korematsu decided to evade relocation as he felt that this violated his constitutional rights. Once he was arrested for violating the executive order, he decided to take the US government to court. The court however, in a 6-3 decision, voted that the need to protect the US against espionage outweighed Korematsu’s individual rights.

Decades later, in 1990 reparation checks of $20,000 were sent to every Japanese American that was interned during WWII. While it was important that the government make amends with the people it wronged, it was a small token in comparison to the Civil Rights violations that occurred during internment.