Note:
Gunnar Myrdal died in 1987, less than 70 years ago.
Therefore, this work is protected by copyright,
restricting your legal rights to reproduce it.
However, you are welcome to view it on screen, as you do now.
Read more about copyright.
Full resolution (TIFF) - On this page / på denna sida - IX. Leadership and Concerted Action - 39. Negro Improvement and Protest Organizations - 12. The Negro Organizations during the War
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
Chapter 39. Improvement and Protest Organizations 851
For the Negro organizations, the War has provided more issues of
immediate importance to attack. The organizations have increased in
importance to the Negro people. Membership rolls have increased, par-
ticularly for the N.A.A.C.P. A new impetus to organizational cooperation
has set in. Churches and fraternal organizations have increasingly been
drawn into this cooperation. National conferences of organizational leaders
are held from time to time, sometimes on governmental initiative, but
usually without it. The N.A.A.C.P. has, on the whole, been in the lead in
this activity.^
One of the most interesting effects of the War is the emergence of a new
Negro organization: The March-on-Washington Committee. A. Philip
Randolph, head of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, in January,
1941, invited to a conference representatives of most of the Negro organi-
zations. He proposed that a committee be formed to organize a march on
the nation’s capital to express the Negro protest against discrimination and
to impress on the Administration the necessity of doing something about it.
The Committee was formed, and preparation for the March made, when,
on the initiative of Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt, conferences were held
between the President and members of the Administration, on the one
hand, and members of the Committee, on the other hand.^^® The President
issued an Executive Order intended to abolish all discrimination (on account
of race, color, creed, or national origin) in employment in defense industries
and government agencies, and appointed the Committee on Fair Employ-
ment Practice to implement his order.’’ Randolph, on his side, called off the
March for the time being.
The March-on-Washington Committee, which, of course, gained a tre-
mendous prestige among Negroes on account of its conspicuous success, did
not dissolve. It did not even relinquish its idea of a March. The March-on-
Washington movement remains a popular organization in many parts of the
country. It is headed by a committee of national Negro leaders and has
the backing of the major Negro organizations. It also has local affiliates.
Its chief way of reaching the people is through mass meetings. The move-
ment restricts its membership to Negroes. Randolph gives the reason for
this:
Just as the Jews have the Zionist Movement fighting on their specific problems;
the workers have trade unions dealing with their specific problems; women have
their movements handling their special problems, so the Negro needs an all-Negro
movement to fight to solve his specific problems. . . . Nor does this all-Negro move-
ment idea imply that interracial movements are not necessary, valuable and sound.
“At a conference, in January, 1942, of National Organizations on Problems of Negroes
in a World at War, the N.A.A,C.P. was accepted as the clearing house for a number o(
committees appointed to make recommendations on various problems.
^
See Chapter 19, Section 3.
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
