National Archives #80-G-71586
Racism played a major role in the Second World
War. The ideology of Nazi Germany
was built on the belief that the Germanic peoples of northern Europe
were inherently superior to other races, and that the Eastern European
peoples in general and the Jews in particular were untermenschen (subhuman). Likewise,
Japanese nationalists claimed that
the Japanese were a divine race;
that the Emperor was a direct
descendant of the Sun God, Amaterasu; and that it was Japan's destiny
to bring the eight corners of the world under one roof (hakko ichiu). Japanese contempt for
their Asian neighbors became increasingly manifest as the war in China raged on and as Japan expanded
its empire
across Southeast Asia.
The German and Japanese attitudes were the most extreme and murderous expressions of a general human disposition towards racism. Seen against this background, the widespread discrimination in the United States against Americans of African descent seems mild. This observation is not meant to condone racism, but to put the American racism of the 1940s in its proper historical context. Black Americans theoretically enjoyed the right to vote, to serve on juries, to hold public office, and to enjoy the equal protection of the law. In practice, these rights were regularly abridged in many areas of the country, particularly in the South, where racist attitudes were perpetuated by extralegal organizations such as the Ku Klux Klan. The legal doctrine of "separate but equal" public accommodations provided justification for widespread segregation of blacks and whites, and the facilities for blacks were usually far from equivalent to those offered white Americans.
Underlying this widespread racism were real problems within the black community. Black slaves were denied any form of education, and their postbellum descendants continued to suffer from low levels of education up to the time of the Pacific War and beyond. Widespread poverty among Southern blacks also took its toll. Again, this observation is not meant to condone racism. The problems within the black community of the 1940s were not of their making. It is doubtful that persons of any ethnic extraction could have done better given the same history.
Eleanor Roosevelt, the President's wife, was outspoken against
racism, and African-Americans, who were historically supporters of the
Republican Party, were enthusiastic about the promises of the New Deal
and switched to the Democratic Party in significant numbers. In spite
of this, the Roosevelt
administration had a mixed record on promoting civil rights. Roosevelt
did sign an executive order forbidding discrimination by race in
defense
industries, but he did not take positive action to end segregation in
the military (believing it would erode on its own under the realities
of manpower allocation) and he did not push anti-lynching legislation.
It is likely Roosevelt felt he could not afford to alienate southern
white Democrats, who were among his strongest supporters in Congress.
The massive war production centered in Detroit, Michigan, attracted some half million new workers to the area between 1940 and 1943. These included about 60,000 African-Americans. Housing was critically short, and the U.S. Housing Authority constructed two hundred houses for black families near Hamtramck, a Polish-American suburb. The existing residents did not want the new housing there, claiming that Communists were selecting the tenants. When twenty black families tried to move in in February 1942, they were blocked by a mob, and it was not until April that they were able to move in. Even then the move required the backing of a regiment of the Michigan National Guard.
On 20 June 1943 a fight broke out between white and black at Belle
Isle, a popular weekend picnic park. The riot spread into Paradise
Valley, and by the time it had been put down by 6000 federal troops, it
had taken the lives of 26 blacks and 9 whites and left another 700
injured. The Detroit riot sparked off similar riots in Beaumont, Texas,
and Harlem, New York City. The Beaumont riot was brought to a halt by
the local sheriff, Bill Richardson, who met a lynch mob with a Tommy gun and told them bluntly to
get back to building ships to defeat the Axis.
By then one black and one white were dead and another 50 injured. The
Harlem riot was brought under control by mayor Fiorello La Guardia, who
urged his police to exercise restraint and deputized 1500
African-American leaders to restore order. Six blacks were killed and
another 300 hospitalized.
The U.S. Army was largely segregated throughout the Pacific War. Although African-Americans had volunteered for the Army at greater rates than white Americans, many American officers believed that blacks were unfit to be good soldiers, and most felt that racial tensions would reduce the cohesiveness and fighting power of integrated combat units. Secretary of War Henry Stimson reflected the common belief of the Army leadership when he declared that "Leadership is not embedded in the Negro race yet" (Fleming 2001). As a result, almost all blacks serving in the Army were assigned to "colored" units led mostly by white officers. Many of the officers involved considered their assignment degrading, and morale suffered accordingly. However, many "colored" units fought with distinction in Africa and Europe, including a tank destroyer battalion and the famed Tuskegee Airmen.
"Colored" units in the Pacific were almost never employed in a combat role. 93 Division did see some combat, and its troops performed about as poorly in their initial engagement as any other inexperienced troops. However, the mistakes and confusion among the black troops was widely reported in the media, giving the impression that they had panicked under fire and otherwise performed unusually poorly. 93 Division saw very little combat thereafter.
Most black troops in the Pacific were employed as
service troops. These were
certainly needed and made an invaluable
contribution to ultimate victory. About a third of the troops working
on the Alaska-Canada Highway
and the Burma Road were black.
Other blacks served in amphibious
tractor battalions that played an important role
in amphibious assaults.
The Navy had been largely integrated, at least among its enlisted men and petty officers, until the First World War. The Wilson administration adopted policies that all but excluded blacks from the Navy, even replacing black mess stewards with Filipinos. It was not until the 1930s that blacks began to be quietly recruited into the Navy again. Though most served as mess specialists, there are no noncombatants on a warship, and segregation is difficult to enforce. Black sailors eventually won grudging respect from their white crew mates, opening the door a little wider to eventual desegregation of the armed forces.
The Marines were very reluctant to accept black recruits. However, once the necessity was forced on them, they quickly adapted. A black Marine was still a Marine. Although attempts were made to restrict black Marines to defense battalions and support services, black ammunition carriers served with distinction under fire at Saipan and began appearing in the front lines at Peleliu. A formation of black Marines, 8 Field Depot, helped turn back the final Japanese counterattack on Iwo Jima on 4 April 1945. Regrettably, the Marines would revert to a heavily discriminatory racial policy after the war.
Segregation sometimes went to such extremes as refusing to make good
use of African-American physicians
except in segregated hospitals and refusing to give "Negro" blood to
white casualties. Many black
servicemen took fierce pride in their service, but this
was often mingled with bitterness over continuing racism. Black
Americans knew they were fighting against enemies whose racism greatly
exceeded
that of their own countrymen, but such comparisons did not eliminate
the sting of discriminatory treatment. Most blacks seemed to believe
that their service in the war would entitle them to better treatment at
home, a belief that came to be shared by enough white Americans that
the armed forces would be desegregated within a decade and all other
forms of legal discrimination repealed within a quarter century of the
end of the war.
References
The Right to Fight: African-American Marines in World War II (accessed 2007-12-26)
The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia © 2007-2010 by Kent G. Budge. Index
