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Full resolution (TIFF) - On this page / på denna sida - IV. Economics - 14. The Negro in Business, the Professions, Public Service and Other White Collar Occupations - 8. Negro Officials and White Collar Workers in Public Service
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328 An American Dilemma
World War and—at ieast in the case of postal service—^the rapid increase
in number of Negro voters in the North.®®
The New Deal had a more friendly attitude toward employment of
Negroes in the federal administration, and this trend has become even
more apparent during the present war emergency when the federal govern-
ment, as well as certain state and municipal governments, have become
increasingly concerned about racial discrimination.® There are no statistical
data available at this time that would enable us to get any idea about how
great the improvement has been. We know that the Negroes have made
appreciable gains in the number of white collar and higher jobs in public
service. But as the general expansion has been extremely rapid ever since
the inauguration of the New Deal, it is not even certain that the proportion
of Negroes in such positions has increased.
The stipulation about appending photographs to job applications has
recently been abolished. This does not mean that discrimination cannot go
on. It is almost always possible to ascertain the race of the person certified.**
Professional workers are almost never employed without having had an
interview with the official under whom they are to work. For this reason
there are—outside of the special divisions for Negro affairs—only a few
Negro federal workers having professional status. When a newly appointed
person turns out to be a Negro, it is possible to find his work unsatisfactory
and to have him dismissed after a while. Also there is always the possibility
of barring Negroes from advancement. In most offices, Negroes—either
voluntarily or involuntarily—sit together. Negro stenographers seldom
get assignments as private secretaries j
most of them work in ‘‘pools.”®®
In some places there is a more or less rigid segregation in cafeterias, but
.
there are other places where such segregational patterns have been broken
up.*^®
The future prospects, of course, are uncertain, but there is more hope
for the Negro in public service than in most other work. Government work,
for one thing, is steadily expandings after the War there will, perhaps, be
a temporary reduction, particularly of the federal payrolls, but the general
trend, more likely than not, will continue upward. Then, too, employment
in public service is susceptible to political pressure. It will take a long time,
of course, before any efficient pro-Negro pressure can be brought on South-
ern administrations. On the other hand, it seems that Negroes have not yet
exhausted their present possibilities of forcing the federal government and
the Northern state governments to employ an increased number of Negro
workers. The principle of nondiscrimination is there established and undis-
puted. The present war emergency, the realization of the low morale
among Negroes, and the new consciousness of the American Creed are
• See Chapter 1 9.
^
See Chapter 1 9.
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