Black Yellowdogs by Ben Kinchlow

Author:Ben Kinchlow
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: WND Books
Published: 2013-03-15T00:00:00+00:00

1—2—3 SHIFT!

So, exactly what was behind the dramatic shift in the voting patterns of Black America?

Prior to WWII, the U.S. industrial complex was in a buildup and blacks, moving from the South, encountered the same discrimination in the defense industry they had fled north to escape. Black leaders, led by A. Phillip Randolph and Bayard Rustin, met with the Democratic leadership seeking federal intervention as a solution to the problem. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the Democrats refused. Randolph’s pleas fell on deaf ears.

But these were new times. A new generation had emerged. Randolph had previously organized and initiated a strike against the Pullman Railroad Car Company, resulting in the founding and establishment of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. He knew how to organize and coordinate resistance, and he now had a large affinity group as a base to call upon. Unless FDR’s administration took steps to desegregate the industries doing business with the U.S. as defense contractors, blacks would march on Washington DC. The march was scheduled for July 1, 1941. By June, there were estimates ranging from 100,000 to upwards of 250,000 potential marchers prepared to descend on the Capitol. Eleanor Roosevelt urged FDR to meet with Randolph and Rustin in an attempt to persuade them to call off the march. Randolph refused. Roosevelt was on the horns of a dilemma. How would the world judge America for condemning Germany’s discrimination against the Jews on the one hand, with the Capitol under siege by its own citizens on the other?

Roosevelt, perhaps not a great statesman but ever the astute politician, saw the light and issued Executive Order 8802, barring discrimination in the defense industries and all federal bureaus. This executive order also established the Fair Employment Act, which required all federal agencies to negotiate with private employers holding government contracts, a provision that those employers would not “discriminate against persons of any race, color, creed, or nationality in matters of employment.” The EO also set up the Fair Employment Practice Committee (FEPC), which would investigate complaints, take steps to eliminate any discrimination, and make recommendations to Roosevelt himself. This sounded good to Randolph and Rustin, who then called off the march. The younger militants were outraged; “Let us march anyway,” they demanded. Randolph, however, insisted the purpose had not been simply to march, but to protest job discrimination, and he felt that FDR had addressed the issue. However, unbeknownst to Randolph and Rustin, while Executive Order 8802 did apply to all defense contractors, in reality it contained no teeth, no enforcement authority.

With the great black migration shifting the population balances in northern cities, FDR, aware that blacks tended to vote in greater numbers than whites in the South, took steps to woo these black voters into the Democratic Party, without alienating his white southern base. He created a black cabinet of advisors (not to be confused with the presidential cabinet); appointed Robert C. Weaver as an aide to the interior secretary; placed Mary McLeod Bethune in charge

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.