276 ChaPter^5
tunity for much better pay and a chance to escape oppression in the South.
Even more, the war – and the Allied ideology behind it – presented an oppor-
tunity for them to fight the gross contradictions in American society. How
could the United States expect Black support of a war to remove tyranny
and end the racist policies of the Axis powers while maintaining segregation
at home?
In a November 1940 campaign speech in New York’s Madison Square
Garden, FDR announced, “We are a nation of many nationalities, many races,
many religions – bound together by a single unity, the unity of freedom and
equality. Whoever seeks to set one nationality against another, seeks to
degrade all nationalities. Whoever seeks to set one race against another seeks
to enslave all races. Whoever seeks to set one religion against another, seeks
to destroy all religion.” Roosevelt was making a pointed appeal to minority
voters in New York, Blacks in particular. Most African Americans, however,
were not moved by the lofty rhetoric. In the summer of 1941, still months
before Pearl Harbor, the head of the predominantly Black Brotherhood of
Sleeping Car Porters, A. Philip Randolph, called for American military contrac-
tors to integrate their factories. To pressure the government, Randolph orga-
nized a massive march on Washington scheduled for July 1st, and he expect-
ed 100,000 to attend. Roosevelt tried to persuade Randolph to call off the
march, fearing political embarrassment as much as violence. Randolph
refused, so Roosevelt convinced him to call off the march only in exchange
for a promise to establish the FEPC to investigate discrimination against
Blacks in defense industries. While the FEPC may have been good for morale
and a step forward for Black Americans, it largely failed. The agency lacked
enforcement powers and a had a small budget, and FEPC did little more than
advocate equality in the workplace and hold meetings. The wartime need for
labor did considerably more for Blacks than did FEPC.
In part because of the weakness of the FEPC, but more because of racial
barriers being crossed in the workplace, World War II produced an increase
in racial violence in U.S. cities. There were more than 200 major race riots
during the war years. While every section of the United States experienced
violence, the worst occurred in 1943 in Detroit, Michigan. The rapid influx
of Blacks into Detroit strained the city’s transportation, education, and housing
systems. A federal housing project for Black defense workers in a White
neighborhood ultimately led to a riot that could only be brought under con-