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Full resolution (TIFF) - On this page / på denna sida - IV. Economics - 19. The War Boom—and Thereafter - 3. Government Policy in Regard to the Negro in War Production
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Chapter 19. The War Boom—^and Thereafter 417
Arkansas, where not a single Negro was referred to any public preemploy-
ment or refresher defense course, nor to any youth work defense project.^®
Apart from the President’s Committee on Fair Employment Practice,
there is no federal agency which has been as frank in its criticism of dis-
criminatory practices in war production as has the United States Employ-
ment Service. We have, above, made frequent use of this official criticism.
At the same time, the Employment Service itself has undoubtedly been
guilty of such practices. This is the more deplorable as it has an extrenjely
strategic position.
It has happened, for instance, as late as February, 1942, that the local
Employment Service office in Portsmouth, Virginia, published an adver-
tisement in which available jobs were listed by racej only unskilled and
domestic jobs were declared to be open to Negroes, whereas all clerical,
skilled, semi-skilled, and even some service jobs (e.g., waitresses) were
reserved for whites.^® The Employment Service offices in the South, of
course, are usually segregated. This, obviously, must facilitate discrimina-
tory practices, in that the Negro branches tend to become almost exclusively
occupied with ^^Negro jobs.” Under such circumstances Negro officials
of the Employment Service may become the more unable to remove dis-
crimination.®®
One reason for this state of affairs is that the Employment Service did
not become completely federalized until January i, 1942. The consequence
is that the bulk of the personnel has been appointed by state governments.
In other words, there seems to be a certain difference between, on the one
hand, the policy of the headquarters in Washington and certain Northern
offices and, on the other hand, that of other state and local offices, especially
those in the South.
So far, however, the reorganized United States Employment Service
has not made sufficiently energetic atterr\pts to require all the local offices
to comply with the government policies. Some of the instructions sent out
to state and local offices are such that, to a certain extent, they actually
protect Employment Service officials who discriminate against Negroes
when making referrals. The main clause in the most recent (July, 1942)
instructions has the following formulation:
... it is the policy of the United States Employment Service (i) to make all refer-
rals without regard to race, color, creed or national origin exceft when an emfloyer*s
order includes these specifications which the employer is not willing to eliminate,
[Italics ours.]
And further:
Employment Service personnel will receive and record all specifications stated by
an employer^ including specifications based on racey colory
creedy or national origin.
If the employer does not include any discriminatory specification in his ordar^ but
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