Double Victory (20 page)

Racism in Civilian Defense

Shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, the Negro Committee for United Action to Defeat Hitler and Hitlerism issued a warning: “Every one of us, no matter where he lives, must find out who the air raid warden is in his area and be prepared.” The warning continued, “Failure to understand what to do may mean not only the loss of your own life, but the lives of members of your family…. We must remember that in blitz attacks there are only two kinds of people: the quick and the dead.”

One night in September 1942 a black couple was driving home to Rutherford, New Jersey, after a visit to New York. Alfonso and Dorothy Jackson heard the sirens signaling a practice blackout. They had taken seriously the warnings about what to do when the air raid sirens sounded. They knew they had to stop and seek shelter. When they pulled their car over on the roadway, an air raid warden told the Jacksons to leave their car and take shelter in a café across the street. There was a crowd of about 25 people moving toward the restaurant. When the group reached the door, an unidentified man emerged from the restaurant and scanned a flashlight over the crowd. There were about 10 black people in the group—including the Jacksons. The man told the
blacks to stand aside. He admitted the whites into the restaurant, followed them in, and closed the door!

Although the incident was only a practice, it raised the question—“What if it had been an authentic air raid? Would the Jacksons and the other black people have been left outside to die?” The incident was reported to state officials. An investigation took place. Within a month a state law was passed barring discrimination in air raid shelters in the state of New Jersey. Many black citizens of New Jersey were encouraged by the law, but black residents in other cities were still concerned. In Washington, DC, for example, black people were excluded from theaters and restaurants in the downtown district. What would happen to black people in the nation's capital when the air raid sirens were heard?

When the US Army Air Forces requested volunteers to work on air raid maneuvers at the post on Governor's Island in New York, 58 women were referred to the post by the New York City Council of Defense. Military officials asked 52 of the women to report for duty. The six women denied were black. The NAACP contacted the mayor of New York City. Mayor LaGuardia called officials at the post, and the six black volunteers were immediately assigned to positions.

As in many cities, the OCD in New Orleans, Louisiana, operated segregated programs. Black citizens there voiced complaints about the program. They accused the local OCD office of discriminating against blacks and criticized officials for failing to appoint “a Negro with the authority and respect of the public” to head the black division. They said the black volunteers didn't get equipment that the white volunteers got. In addition, black citizens complained that officials failed to provide civil defense classes for black citizens. During blackout tests, blacks were confused about what they were supposed to do because they were barred from the classes. Black air raid wardens hadn't
been well trained and didn't know what to do. Black residents said, when an air raid siren sounded, they had to look for a shelter designated for black citizens. If the closest shelter was one assigned to white residents, black people could try to enter it—but they might not be welcomed with open arms. Black leaders said in sections of the city where there were black air raid wardens and auxiliary police patrolling the districts, whites in the neighborhoods refused to listen to instructions issued by the blacks. And black residents objected to the discourteous attitudes of the white air raid wardens and auxiliary police.

The situation in New Orleans came to a head in March 1942 when a blackout test was staged by the OCD office. These 15-minute practice tests were intended to prepare people to act if an actual air raid by the enemy occurred. All unnecessary lights were supposed to be put out and window shades drawn. All cars, trucks, buses, and street trolleys were to stop and their lights had to be turned off. Streetlights, traffic lights, and advertising signs were to be out during a blackout test.

Because they felt their safety had been neglected by the OCD office, many black citizens decided to protest and show their anger for the way the program was run by ignoring the test. Their lights were out in their houses—as the blackout test required. But that was because the homeowners were at parties, theaters, and taverns. Some black residents and motorists spent the 15-minute blackout period flickering the lights in their homes and cars. They treated the test as a joke, saying the most successful “blackout” was the “blackout of Negroes from full participation in the civilian defense program” in New Orleans.

These troubling events in New Orleans continued apace. In 1943 black war workers were disrespected yet again when Red Cross volunteer nurse aides were refused seats at a war bond rally. The rally started with a parade that began at the Customs
House on Canal Street. The nurse aide corps—made up of white and black volunteers—joined in the parade route. When the group reached the municipal auditorium, where the rally was to take place, the black women corps members were told they could not enter the auditorium with the white section of the corps. The usher told the women that the Red Cross had issued an order forbidding blacks on the first floor. Three of the black women ignored the usher and took seats. After white people complained about having to sit near the black women, the usher approached the women and told them the seats were reserved and they would have to move. When the women asked, “How far back?” the usher said they could not sit on the same floor with whites. He indicated the “buzzard's roost” section of the auditorium—the balcony—was reserved for “coloreds.”

Instead, the three women joined the rest of the black nurse aides outside. None wanted to go to the segregated section of the auditorium for the rest of the rally. The nurse aides and other members of the New Orleans black community resented the racist treatment the women received at the bond rally. The women had graduated from a local school of nursing and were volunteering at the hospital to alleviate a critical shortage of nurses in New Orleans. They deserved better treatment.

Although some OCD officials encouraged and supported segregation among wartime volunteers, black women offered their time and labor in all areas of civilian defense that were open to them. If they couldn't work beside white volunteers in serving their country, they offered their services in separate facilities. Nurse aides played a vital role in the war efforts, and many black women were eager to attend the required 80 hours of training to learn the necessary skills and lend their support to hospitals that were in desperate need of help. Some hospitals were willing to let black and white women work together.

In Brooklyn, New York, in 1942 the Civilian Defense volunteer office issued a call for 2,000 nurse aides. Male and female hospital workers were in short supply, as many had left for defense plant jobs or the military. Officials hoped that black women would answer the call. They reported that all the black nurses who were already serving excelled in their work.

The OCD in Brooklyn was looking for more women like Eva White, who was the mother of six children. Eva worked at a paying job three mornings a week but volunteered every Friday at a hospital as a nurse aide.

“My children are all at school, and I enjoy the work,” Eva explained. “It isn't hard, and it is a great satisfaction to know that I'm not only helping to make sick people more comfortable but that I am really doing something for my country.” Eva was invited by the OCD to make an appeal on the radio to encourage other black women to volunteer.

“Being a nurse aide is a fine thing,” Eva said during the radio broadcast. “And I'd like to tell my people how much pleasure I get from serving. I'd like to persuade them to join.”

Alphabet Soup

WDCA, WEVS, WAND, USO: there was no shortage of acronyms to symbolize the numerous volunteer organizations during the war. There was no shortage of women to support the work of the various organizations. And there was no shortage of racism across the groups.

WDCA

The motto of the Women's Defense Corps of America (WDCA) was simple and direct: “Service to servicemen.” There was little doubt about the purpose of the group. And the women of the
WDCA in their blue military-like uniforms were straightforward in their approach to making a difference in the lives of servicemen and their families. Ordinary citizens, as well as movie stars and celebrities, were active in the WDCA in major cities across the country.

In St. Louis, black women in the WDCA raised $1,000 and bought furniture for a recreation club at the Jefferson Barracks of the Army Air Forces' Technical Training Command. They provided the servicemen with cigarettes, ashtrays, and 50 pounds of cookies.

Marva Louis, well-known singer and wife of the famous boxer Joe Louis, was the captain of the Joe Louis chapter of the WDCA in Chicago. Marva and 117 other black women who comprised the chapter sent gifts each month to military camps in the Chicago area. Because of Marva's participation in the group, the work of the women was noticed by more people.

Surrounded by recruits, singer Marva Louis, wife of boxing champion Joe Louis, takes time out from a tour of nightclubs to entertain men in black regiments at the US Naval Training Station at Great Lakes, Illinois.
National Archives, AFRO/AM in WWII List #231

But Marva had a falling-out with the WDCA in August 1943 when the group refused to place a black woman on its board of directors. Marva formed an independent organization she called the Joe Louis Service Guild. It was a volunteer organization that was open to all women, including factory workers and teachers. The women took on a variety of activities, such as sending cookies and newspapers to servicemen each month. And with a supporter as well known as Marva as their president, they were able to hold a bond rally that netted $100,000. Thanks to Marva, they auctioned off a pair of Joe's boxing gloves. The gloves went to the highest bidder—for $20,000! Marva was somewhat reluctant to part with the gloves, which she had been saving for her grandchildren. But she felt she could make the sacrifice because “there is a war to win and the country needs money.”

WADCA

The Los Angeles unit of the Women's Ambulance Defense Corps of America (WADCA) was one of 54 chapters in June 1942. The organization offered a “widely diversified defense program” including motorcycle and cavalry units. Women between 18 and 45 years of age, who were US citizens and could pass a physical examination “equal to that in any man's army,” could join. They were military trained and learned jujitsu. Known as the Glory Gals, their unofficial slogan was “The hell we can't.”

WEVS

Fifty black women in Dayton, Ohio, formed the War Emergency Volunteer Services (WEVS) organization in 1942. At the
first meeting the group identified immediate needs in the city. They knew 800 women were coming to Dayton to work in war industries, and the women needed places to live. WEVS members were also concerned about 300 black servicemen of the 98th Aviation Squadron who were stationed at Patterson Field. They wanted to do something to make them feel welcome. The women didn't waste time talking. Within three months of its establishment, WEVS had sponsored three dances for the servicemen.

AWVS

The American Women's Volunteer Service (AWVS) was open to black and white women. Their motto was “Unite and serve.” While the group members were united in their goals, they did not serve equally. White women held the top leadership roles, while black women were welcome only as workers who had to operate in groups separate from white groups.

Much was accomplished by the AWVS volunteers. Every unit had a junior auxiliary of girls 14 to 18 years old who took training courses and provided a messenger service. The organization offered segregated classes in air raid precautions, communications, map reading, convoy driving, motor mechanics, defense photography, public speaking, navigation, home repairs, and nutrition. Black women completed the classes in their segregated units and were qualified to volunteer in positions in businesses and government agencies that were vacant because workers had left for the armed forces or for defense jobs. Their departures left openings in vital jobs—with few workers available to fill them. The women of the AWVS were ready to step in to do the work. Classes for nurse aides and receptionists prepared women for volunteer work in hospitals, daycare nurseries, social welfare organizations, and government agencies. Any
woman who completed 100 hours of volunteer work earned the privilege of wearing the AWVS uniform. Many black women took advantage of the opportunities to learn new skills while serving their country in wartime.

One black AWVS member from Harlem who completed a course in communications and map reading took a volunteer position with the War Department's “interceptor command.” She worked with other women who plotted the movement of enemy planes spotted by air raid “spotters” at listening posts.