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Thirty years ago, it was commonplace to refer to the era of World War II as the "forgotten years of the Negro revolution" (1). Beginning in the late 1960s, however, scholars started to focus attention on the black experience during the early 1940s, examining both the battle and homefronts. At first, historians concluded that this period constituted a watershed in history. They maintained that African American men and women made major advances as workers and military personnel and that communities across the United States witnessed a dramatic rise in black social activism and political participation. Over time, however, historians have tempered their enthusiasm for this interpretation. Social, economic, and political gains were often lost in the postwar period, something which contributed to the disillusionment and upheaval of the 1960s. Still, there is no denying the importance of the war years. Accompanying the global conflict were transformations in employment, geography, and social status that permanently affected not only African Americans but all Americans in general. Thus the Second World War may not be a watershed, but it was an unprecedented era in which African Americans sought a "Double V,11 a victory over fascism abroad and apartheid at home.
A central component to the Double V was the quest to eradicate job discrimination, particularly in the defense industries. When the Second World War began with the German invasion of Poland in 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt began in earnest to put the country on a war footing. For the average American, the results of the defense preparedness program were dramatic and beneficial. By the time of the Pearl Harbor attack in late 1941, conversion to war production was occurring nationwide. Gigantic factories such as the one at Willow Run near Detroit were built, and American workers as well as businessmen profited from the increased economic activity. Unemployment rapidly decreased from 8,120,000 persons in 1940 to 5,560,000 in 1941 to 2,660,000 in 1942. Moreover, union membership rose from roughly 8 million in 1940 to 10 million in 1941 (2).
But not all felt the return of prosperity equally. Some Americans, blacks in particular, were left behind as the economy geared up for war. Since the 1920s, African Americans had suffered from high rates of unemployment. 1920 was a...