Japanese American Internment and the Black Experience During World War II

Japanese American Internment (1942-1945)

• Relocation Context and Statistics:     * During World War II, a total of more than $100,000$ Japanese Americans were forcibly removed from their homes.     * The majority of individuals relocated were American citizens.     * The internment area was demarcated as an excluded zone covering the entire West Coast (Washington, Oregon, California) and southern Arizona.
• Internment Camp Locations and Capacities:     * Tule Lake, California: Held a highest number of $18,789$ internees.     * Poston, Arizona: Held a highest number of $17,814$ internees.     * Gila River, Arizona: Held a highest number of $13,348$ internees.     * Heart Mountain, Wyoming (near Cody): Held a highest number of $10,767$ internees.     * Manzanar, California (near Lone Pine): Held a highest number of $10,046$ internees.     * Minidoka, Idaho (near Twin Falls): Held a highest number of $9,397$ internees.     * Jerome, Arkansas (near Pine Bluff): Held a highest number of $8,497$ internees.     * Rohwer, Arkansas: Held a highest number of $8,475$ internees.     * Topaz, Utah (near Nephi): Held a highest number of $8,310$ internees.     * Amache, Colorado (near Lamar): Held a highest number of $7,318$ internees.
• Postwar Status and Reparations:     * The US government eventually apologized for the internment policy.     * Compensation was provided in the amount of $\$20,000$ to each surviving victim.

Blacks and the War: Racism and Science

• The Paradox of Freedom: While the war was fought for "freedom," the treatment of Japanese Americans and Blacks highlighted deep-seated American racism.
• Nazi Exploitation of US Racism: Nazi Germany cited American racial practices as a justification and proof for its own discriminatory race policies.
• Segregation in Washington D.C.: The nation's capital remained a rigidly segregated city throughout the war period.
• Red Cross Blood Policy:     * The Red Cross refused to mix blood from Black and white donors in its blood banks.     * Critics argued this policy effectively accepted Nazi race theories regarding "pure" blood.     * Charles Drew: A pioneering Black scientist who developed techniques for storing and shipping blood plasma (essential for treating wounded soldiers). He protested the Red Cross policy bitterly, stating it lacked any scientific basis.

The Second Great Migration

• Migration Scale: This movement dwarfed the Great Migration of the World War I era and the 1920s.
• The "Liberty Trains": Approximately $700,000$ Black migrants left the rural South for industrial centers in the North and West.
• Racial Hostility in the North:     * Detroit Race Riot (1943): A fight at a city park escalated into a riot resulting in the deaths of $34$ persons.     * "Hate Strikes": In one instance, $20,000$ workers went on strike to protest the promotion (upgrading) of Black employees in an aircraft engine manufacturing plant.

Black Americans and Military Service

• Pre-War Restrictions:     * The Air Force and Marines initially had zero Black members.     * The Army restricted the number of Black enlistees; at the start, there were only $5$ Black officers, and $3$ of them were chaplains.     * The Navy accepted Black recruits only in service roles as waiters and cooks.
• Wartime Service Realities:     * More than $1,000,000$ Black individuals served in the armed forces during World War II.     * Service was conducted in segregated units.     * Duties were largely confined to noncombat tasks such as construction and transport.     * Anecdote of Discrimination: Black soldiers were occasionally required to yield their seats on railroad cars to accommodate Nazi prisoners of war (POWs).

Postwar Segregation and the GI Bill

• The GI Bill (Servicemen's Readjustment Act):     * On the surface, the law contained no racial differentiation regarding benefits such as health care, college tuition, job training, and business/farm loans.     * Local Administration Bias: Because local authorities administered the provisions, Black veterans in the South faced extreme discrimination.     * Educational Limitations: Benefits could only be used at segregated colleges.     * Employment and Loans: Job training was limited to unskilled or low-wage service work, and loans for purchasing farms were largely restricted to white veterans.

Birth of the Modern Civil Rights Movement

• Economic Exclusion: In $1940$, out of $100,000$ aircraft industry workers, fewer than $300$ were Black.
• A. Philip Randolph: A Black labor leader who, in July $1941$, called for a March on Washington.     * Demands: Access to defense employment, an end to segregation, and a national antilynching law.
• Executive Order 8802: Issued by President Roosevelt to persuade Randolph to cancel the march.     * This order banned discrimination in defense jobs.     * Fair Employment Practices Commission (FEPC): Established to monitor compliance. It was the first federal agency since Reconstruction to campaign for Black equal opportunity.     * FEPC Impact: By $1944$, more than $1,000,000$ Blacks (including $300,000$ women) held manufacturing jobs.

The "Double-V" Campaign and Activism

• NAACP Growth: Membership increased from $50,000$ to nearly $500,000$ during the war.
• Congress of Racial Equality (CORE):     * Founded in $1942$ by an interracial group of pacifists.     * Conducted sit-ins in northern cities to integrate theaters and restaurants.
• The Double-V Slogan:     * Coined by the Pittsburgh Courier in February $1942$.     * Symbolized the dual battle: Victory over Germany and Japan (fascism) and Victory over segregation at home (racism).
• Divergent Views on Freedom:     * For Black Americans, "freedom from fear" meant an end to lynching, and "freedom from want" meant ending job discrimination.     * To many whites, freedom was a "possession to be defended"; to Black and other minorities, it was a "goal to be achieved."

The War and Racial Progress

• Political Coalitions: A broad coalition of the left, the NAACP, and the American Jewish Congress advocated for laws banning discrimination in housing and employment.
• Labor Unions: CIO (Congress of Industrial Organizations) unions, particularly those with left-liberal or communist influence, worked to organize Black workers into skilled positions despite white worker resistance.
• Southern Resistance: Alabaman Governor Frank Dixon warned against using the "war emergency" as a pretext to abolish the color line.
• Legal and Governmental Milestones:     * The National War Labor Board banned racial wage differentials.     * Smith v. Allwright (1944): The Supreme Court outlawed all-white primaries, which were used to disenfranchise Black voters in the South.     * Poll Tax Exemptions: The government allowed soldiers to vote without paying a poll tax.     * Navy Integration: In $1944$, the Navy assigned small numbers of Black sailors to previously all-white ships; segregation was ended entirely in its final months.     * Army Combat Units: A few integrated combat units were established toward the end of the war.

An American Dilemma and Internationalism

• Gunnar Myrdal and "An American Dilemma" (1944):     * A study by Swedish social scientist Gunnar Myrdal detailing how deeply racism was entrenched in law, politics, and social behavior.     * The American Creed: Myrdal pointed out the conflict between American values (equality, justice, freedom) and actual racial policies.     * He suggested that the war would force a redefinition of the status of Black Americans.
• Black Internationalism:     * Revived the 19th-century ideas of David Walker and Martin Delany linking the fate of African Americans to peoples of African descent worldwide.     * London Gatherings: George Padmore hosted meetings where W. E. B. Du Bois and Paul Robeson met future African leaders like Jomo Kenyatta (Kenya), Kwame Nkrumah (Ghana), and Nnamdi Azikiwe (Nigeria).     * Concept: Freeing Africa from colonial rule was seen as a way to encourage greater equality in the United States.
• Paul Robeson: A Black actor and singer who led Oakland dockworkers in the national anthem in $1942$, advocating for an America based on genuine equality.