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Full resolution (TIFF) - On this page / på denna sida - IX. Leadership and Concerted Action - 35. The Negro Protest - 10. The Great Depression and the Second World War
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Chapter 35. The Negro Protest 755
Negro vote went to Roosevelt in the 1932 election. Yet they swung rapidly
around and became the strongest supporters of his politics.* With their
new admiration for the New Deal, Negroes experienced a lift in their
hopes for themselves. Unemployment relief removed much of the eco-
nomic suffering, at least in the North. The United States Housing projects,
Farm Security work, and other federal activities helped some Negroes to
reorganize themselves. Politically, the Negroes were stimulated by their
release from the Republican party and by the presence of Negroes in advi-
sory positions in many government agencies. Above all, they were thrilled
by Roosevelt’s appeal to the underdog and by the obvious friendliness
toward Negroes on the part of the President and Mrs. Roosevelt. There
had been no race riots for several years j
lynchings reached a new low 5
Southern liberalism—with federal government support—seemed to be
growing. All these things made the late 1930’s a period of somewhat less
despair and pessimism for Negroes than the early 1930’s. But there was
little long-range hope: Negroes had relief, but no jobs; and there was no
significant improvement in their position on any other front.
When the United States entered the Second World War in December,
1941, Negroes were not optimistic as to what its significance for them
would be. They knew that the democratic war aims were not meant for
them. The memories of the riots that followed the First World War
rankled in their minds. Their difficulties in getting into the armed forces
and into war industry in the period of preparation for war convinced them
that an increase of activities would only mean that there were more fields
in which Negroes would be discriminated against. But there was more
reason and more opportunity to protest. The democratic ideology stimu-
lated by the War and the heroic example of the colored peoples of China,
the Philippine Islands, and elsewhere, .outweighed the emphasis upon
“wartime unity and harmony,” and gave the Negro protest an ear among
the whites, at least in the North. These same things made the Negro want
to protest more.
We shall have more to say on the influence of the present War upon
Negro attitudes in the last chapter. We shall find that the Negro protest
has risen higher than ever. It is possible that at a later stage of the War,
when the white unemployment reserve is worked off, the Negroes will see
their employment opportunity rise. It is also possible that the white liberals
will be able to open the doors somewhat more in the armed forces. It is
possible that some more specific promises of measures against discrimination,
not only in the economic field, but also in justice, politics, education, and
other public services will be given to meet the low morale of the Negroes
and to allay the uneasy feeling of many whites when faced before the
world with the inconsistency between their democratic faith and their
* See Chapter 25, footnote 8.
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