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CHAPTER 19
THE WAR BOOM—AND THEREAFTER
I. The Negro Wage Earner and the War Boom
The present War is of tremendous importance to the Negro in all
respects. He has seen his strategic position strengthened not only because
of the desperate scarcity of labor but also because of a revitalization of the
democratic Creed.® As he finds himself discriminated against in the war
effort, he fights with new determination. He cannot allow his grievances
to be postponed until after the War, for he knows that the War is his
chance. If he fails now to get into new lines of work when labor is scarce,
it means that he has missed the best opportunity he is going to have for
years. Demobilization and liquidation of the war industries are bound to
result in a post-war unemployment crisis. This implies, not only that there
will be fewer jobs for everybody, but more likely than not that white
workers are going to become even more bent on driving the Negro out of
industry. If the Negro does not then have a recognized position, he will
certainly not easily gain one as long as there is general unemployment.
We shall not give an exhaustive account of Negro employment during
the war boom. Available information on the subject is spotty, or at least
not well organized. Moreover, the picture is changing. On the whole,
there is a slow improvement. There is a possibility that the situation when
this book leaves the press may be more favorable than it was during the
first half of 1942, which is as far as our data go.
It can be stated definitely that, until mid- 1942, Negroes had not prof-
ited from the war boom to the same extent as had white workers. Indeed,
until that time the record of the Second World War was, in this respect,
much less impressive than was that of the First World War. There has
been no northward migration of Negroesy comfarable in size and signify
came to that which occurred at the beginning of the First World War.
Indeedy
Negro farticifation in the migration to war ’production centers
y
in both the North and the Southy was for a long time extremely restricted}
There is no new industry or previously all-white industry where Negroes
have made any gains of the same importame as those they made during
the First World War in Northern iron and steel plantsy shipyards^ auto-
mobile factorieSy slaughtering and meat-packing homes.
* See Chapter 45.
409
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