African American Workers: Conflict on the Homefront

Transcription

1 African American Workers: Conflict on the Homefront In this lesson you analyze a propaganda poster, a photograph, and a poem to understand the tensions unleashed by the entry of African Americans into the industrial workforce during World War II. Objectives 1. You will describe the tensions and conflicts caused by the entry of African American workers into the industrial workforce during World War II. 2. You will analyze government efforts to address racial tensions during World War II. 3. You will interpret a poem about African-American perspectives of World War II. Instructions 1. Step 1: Please locate the Beaumont photograph without description (showing title and source only) with focus questions. Work independently to analyze the photograph and answer the questions. 2. Step 2: Let s discuss what we observed and what hypotheses you have about what's going on in the photo. Then we will view the Beaumont photo with the description. How does the description further expand the story of what's happening in the photo? Can students explain how this photo shows cause and effect? 3. Step 3: Please locate the United We Win" poster, the poem "Beaumont to Detroit, 1943," and the analysis worksheets. Work in groups to answer the questions. When you are finished, we will share our responses, and will focus on the causes and effects of race riots during World War II. Historical Context The overwhelming need for workers during World War II meant that factories were, for the first time, willing to hire black workers in skilled and high-paying jobs. Industrial jobs motivated African Americans to move in search of economic opportunity: thousands moved out of the rural South into urban areas to work in shipyards, ammunition factories, or aircraft plants. However, their new white coworkers and neighbors resented the change in the status of Jim Crow. Black migrants encountered prejudice, discrimination and sometimes violence. Such tensions spilled over into race riots throughout 1943, including one in Beaumont, Texas in which nearly 4,000 white citizens terrorized Beaumont's black neighborhoods. Black businesses and homes were pillaged and destroyed, over fifty people sustained injuries, and at least three people-one white, two black-were killed in the violence.

2 "Workers leaving Pennsylvania shipyards, Beaumont, Texas" 1943 SOURCE John Vachon, "Workers leaving Pennsylvania shipyards, Beaumont, Texas," photograph, June 1943, Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Collection, Library of Congress, CREATOR John Vachon ITEM TYPE Photograph

3 Focus Questions for Workers Leave the Pennsylvania Shipyards in Beaumont, Texas 1. List what you see in the photo A) B) C) (Hint: How many rows are there?) 2. How does the date at the bottom of the photo help you to understand the photograph? 3. What questions do you have about the photo?

4 Focus Questions for United We Win Poster 1. List the words, symbols, objects and people used in this poster. When you complete the list, work with your group to explain their meaning and purpose as used in the poster. List Words: Meaning and/or Purpose Symbols: People: Objects: 2. What problems in American society during this time are represented by the poster? 3. How would each person in the poster respond to the title of the poster?

5 Beaumont to Detroit, 1943 Poem Analysis Vocabulary Drift letting things happen Riots violence Ku Klux Klan a group that used violence against African- Americans Jim Crow term given to laws that limited African- American rights (Separation of the races segregation) Democracy government by the people Mussolini and Hitler two leaders with total power (dictators) whom the U.S. fought in WWII Stanza 1 How does the line Let things drift refer to Jim Crow laws? Stanza 2 Who is me in this stanza? Stanza 3, 4, 5, 6 How does the poet compare Hitler, Mussolini and the Ku Klux Klan? Stanza 5 Who is you in this stanza? Stanza 7 What is the poet referring to in the phrase we re fighting? Stanza 8 What change is the poet calling for?

6 "United We Win" This 1943 government poster offers an image of racial solidarity among wartime workers under the slogan "United We Win." Although African- Americans did find enhanced opportunities thanks to the high demand for workers and the Roosevelt Administration's creation of the Fair Employment Practices Committee, many black workers continued to encounter discrimination in the workplace during the war years. SOURCE Alexander Liberman (photographer), "United We Win," poster (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office for the War Manpower Commission, 1943); from National Archives, "Powers of Persuasion: Poster Art from World War II," CREATOR Alexander Liberman/War Manpower Commission ITEM TYPE Poster/Print

7 Here's a Langston Hughes poem from Beaumont, TX and Detroit, MI were two in a series of race riots that swept the nation from May 12 to August 29, 1943, at the height of U.S. involvement in WW II. It's a good example of Hughes's ability to write to immediate social and political events. Beaumont to Detroit: 1943 Looky here, America What you done done-- Let things drift Until the riots come. Now your policemen Let your mobs run free I reckon you don't care Nothing about me. You tell me that hitler Is a mighty bad man. I guess he took lessons from the ku klux klan. You tell me mussolini's Got an evil heart. Well, it mus-a been in Beaumont That he had his start-- Cause everything that hitler And mussolini do, Negroes get the same Treatment from you. You jim crowed me Before hitler rose to power-- And you're STILL jim crowing me Right now, this very hour. Yet you say we're fighting For democracy. Then why don't democracy Include me? I ask you this question Cause I want to know How long I got to fight BOTH HITLER--AND JIM CROW.

8 "Workers leaving Pennsylvania shipyards, Beaumont, Texas" Beaumont, Texas, like many U.S. cities, became a boomtown during World War II, as new residents flooded in to take jobs at the city's shipyards and petroleum production facilities. Between 1940 and 1943, population rose by 35% and the city suffered from overcrowding, increased demand for city services, and even food shortages. While African Americans remained about one third of the population, the overall increase in population resulted in serious racial violence against them, including white police shooting and killing a black soldier riding in the white section of a local bus. This 1943 photograph of workers leaving the Pennsylvania shipyards was taken two weeks before a fifteen-hour riot in which white residents terrorized people and property in the city's black neighborhoods. SOURCE John Vachon, "Workers leaving Pennsylvania shipyards, Beaumont, Texas," photograph, June 1943, Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Collection, Library of Congress, CREATOR John Vachon ITEM TYPE Photograph