Double V campaign

African American soldiers fighting abroad in the Second World War were subject to segregation within the U.S. armed forces, despite fighting on land that did not hold the same racist ideology as that which they experienced at home and during their service.[3] It was not until July 28, 1948, when President Harry S. Truman put forth Executive Order 9981, that the U.S. armed forces were racially integrated.[4]

After the Japanese attack on the American naval base in Pearl Harbor, America sent in the 369th Division to defend the territory of Hawaii from air attacks. Response from Hawaiians toward the African American soldiers varied greatly. The territory was a volatile combination of racial tension and extreme state power, as it had not yet joined the American Union, which wouldn't happen until 1959. Hawaii did not have the ingrained segregation found within America at this time. Although stereotyping of minorities did occur, Hawaii is considered today to have been more progressive on the issue of race than mainland America.[5] There was no established place for African Americans as Jim Crow segregation laws within America had kept White and Black people in separate social spheres.[6] Racially driven stereotypes regarding African Americans did exist on the island and included rumors spread by non-African American soldiers that Black soldiers had monkey tails.[5] For example, many White soldiers refused to recognize higher-ranking Black officers. The discrimination African Americans experienced within the military in Hawaii fueled their fight to see the "Double V" campaign succeed. However, their experience of life in a community that didn't have such established racial ideas demonstrated what a double victory could achieve.[6]

The Courier was the most highly circulated Black newspaper during the war, with a readership of around 350,000. Other Black newspapers followed suit and adopted the campaign, including the Chicago Defender and the Amsterdam Star-News. The slogan was prompted by a response to the letter, "Should I Sacrifice to Live 'Half American?" written by 26-year-old reader James G. Thompson.[8] Since the Black press had been criticized for insufficient patriotism, they created the Double V Campaign as a means to counter this idea and promote patriotism among African Americans despite the hypocrisy of the US government. However, newspapers such as the Chicago Defender and Pittsburgh Courier also detailed discrimination and racism which African American troops were facing abroad during the war.[9]

The Double V Campaign had limited success. While it promoted patriotism and support for the war effort among African Americans, especially as the Allies won the war, it fostered a narrow appreciation for the complexity of African American wartime situations, and it did not address or impact the underlying structure of America's systems of institutional racism.[10] The campaign was also not a unifying force as many White, Southern newspapers and journalists criticized the slogan and characterized it as a dangerous revolution. The government tried to get the Black press to cease its agitation in an effort for greater rights.[11] Among African Americans, the Double V campaign had a 91% approval rating and was supported by various institutions and organizations, such as North Carolina A&T State University and United Automobile Workers. Support for the campaign was bolstered by wartime events such as the Port Chicago disaster and the Agana race riot, which underscored the disparities Black soldiers faced. The campaign also played a role at home in encouraging defense industries to hire African American employees who left the South in large numbers for the urban North and West Coast during the Second Great Migration to help the nation's war effort.[12]

The press had a vital role in creating and spreading the idea of Double V in an effort to get more readers and Black men to enroll in the Army and support the war effort, as it was not a "white man's war." If Black people did not support the war effort and help America win, it could be problematic to win equality back home.[13] It was difficult to emphasize the importance of African American involvement in the war at a time when discrimination was apparent both in conscription and the wartime labor force. In addition, it was also a response to Franklin D. Roosevelt, who had encouraged five editors of the top Black newspapers in the United States to reduce the discontent and apathy of their readers toward the war.[14]

The campaign naturally died down by 1943, and the Pittsburgh Courier only mentioned the successes of the campaign from that point on. However, it is still considered to be a turning point within African American history which led to unity among the Black population in regard to achieving this double victory in the long run.[11] The slogan and wartime protests marked a key development within Black protest movements and aided in laying the groundwork for the future Civil Rights Movement.[7] Nonetheless, the campaign had not fully achieved its goal, as discrimination was still legal in America after the war, despite the efforts of African American soldiers.[15] In this regard, the White House also failed to respond to progressive change within the African American population.[11]