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Full resolution (TIFF) - On this page / på denna sida - Appendices - 6. Pre-War Conditions of the Negro Wage Earner in Selected Industries and Occupations - 8. Building Workers
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Appendix 6. Conditions of Negro Wage Earner 1103
Border cities studied by Norgren, Northrup, and others, in 1940- 1941, 22 had mixed
locals, 3 (Atlanta, Richmond, and Charleston, South Carolina) had separate Negro and
white locals, and 3 (St. Louis, Baltimore, and Tampa) had white locals indulging in
various degrees of exclusionist policies. It is said that the race relations are usually good
in the mixed Southern locals.* The plasterers’ union shows similar conditions. Of 26
Southern and Border cities surveyed by Northrup in 1940- 1941, only 2 (Birmingham
and St. Louis) had separate locals for Negroes and whites; 2 had exclusively white
locals; whereas the remaining 22 cities had unsegregated local unions (in 12 of these
unions Negroes were in the majority). Discriminatory tendencies appear here and there,
but the national leadership takes strong action against them.^
These examples show that there is nothing inherently “natural” in the exclusionist
and segregational attitudes dominating other organized building crafts, except that the
Negro worker was so powerless to begin with in these other trades that it was compara-
tively easy to keep him out. The United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners, for
over forty years representing the most important of all the building crafts, usually
organizes Negroes and whites into separate locals—that is, in so far as Negroes are
allowed to belong to the union. In the South there seems to be no exception to this
rule, and it is often practiced in Northern cities as well. This segregation works consid-
erable hardship on the Negro worker, for there seems to be little attempt to divide the
work evenly between the Negro and the white locals. In the South, white locals are
often allied with the municipal political machines, and this is one of the reasons why
it is so much easier for white workers to secure employment on public construction
projects; the political bosses know, of course, that white workers can vote, and that
Negroes cannot. Also, it is easier for white than for the colored locals to be in constant
contact with private contractors. It even happens that white locals import white workers
from other cities rather than allow Negroes to get a share of especially attractive work
opportunities. Sometimes they have excluded Negroes altogether from work in white
neighborhoods, which means that Negro carpenters are restricted to maintenance and
repair work and the building of small unpretentious homes; they seldom get any share
of the work on larger projects. It is extremely hard for the colored workers, under such
circumstances, to maintain their skills. There are Southern cities where few, if any,
Negro craftsmen are competent to use newer techniques and newer materials. During
the ’thirties a great number of Negro locals disappeared, whereas the white locals
usually managed to survive. As a consequence, in many Southern cities colored workers
are completely excluded. During the latter part of the ’thirties and the present war
boom, a reversal in this trend has been brought about, thanks to the efforts of the
federal government.® In spite of these efforts, Northrup did not find more than 18
colored locals in 33 Southern and Border cities in 1940-1941, and most of those seemed
to depend entirely on the protection of the federal government.^
The Brotherhood of Painters, Decorators, and Paper-hangers seems to be even worse
than the Carpenters. Negro workers are not often organized even in separate locals.
* Northrup, op, cit,, pp. 83-85.
**
Ibid,f pp. 94-96.
*A11 data in this paragraph are based on Northrup, op, dt,^ pp. 50-57. Concerning the
efforts of the federal government, see Chapter 19, Section 3. Norgren and Associates, op.
cit,^ pp. 314-316, and ff.
* Northrup, of, cit., p, 65.
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