Existing comment:
America in 1941:
In regards to race, the America of 1941 was a very different place when compared to the America of today. In the 76 years since the end of the American Civil War, the status of African Americans had not improved a great deal. In fact, in some parts of America this status had declined markedly since the end of Reconstruction. The Post-Reconstruction rise of White Supremacy in the American South greatly curtailed opportunities for social, economical and political advancement. In 1896, the Supreme Court dealt another blow to the status of African-Americans by ruling in the landmark case Plessy v Ferguson which mandated "Separate but Equal" services and facilities thereby legalizing already widely practiced segregation. Separate but Equal would remain a law of the land until May 1954 when the courts overturned the law with the Brown v Board of Education decision. Lynchings and other forms of intimidation were commonplace. This oppression would lead many African Americans to abandon the South in large population shifts to the North, Midwest and West.
This search for a better life would become known as the Great Migration. By 1941, Black Americans lived in a separate self-sustaining society. In many places a rich African-American culture had grown and flourished. It was a distinct society with its own schools and institutions of higher learning, its own music and arts, its own foods, its own heros [sic] and heroines. The Harlem Renaissance is probably the most noted example. An important part of this culture was a strong very well organized middle-class which valued education and advancement. The church, the black press, service and social organizations were particularly adept at moving the community to action. Without the pressure these organization[s] applied to the National Government and the War Department, it is hard to imagine the African-American aviation units ever came into existence.
The Pittsburgh Courier, the largest African-American newspaper of the day, was able to mobilize Black America behind a "Double V" campaign which called for victory against fascism overseas and racial prejudice at home. Many believed the "Double V" campaign was an important precursor of the Civil Rights Movement of the latter part of the 20th Century. |