Double Victory

by Cheryl Mullenbach

  All across the country black women in cities, towns, and rural areas volunteered through OCD programs. Some were housewives and farm women who participated in classes where they learned how to manage their homes under wartime conditions. Others were women who did their volunteer work after they returned home from their jobs in factories, offices, and businesses. Some women enrolled in childcare courses that consisted of 75 hours of instruction over a period of five weeks. After completion of the course, the women volunteered in daycares, nursery schools, and after-school programs to help care for the children of women who were working in war industries. All these women contributed extra hours of free labor because they wanted to do something to help win the war.

  Jessie L. Terry served as “race relations adviser” for the California Council of Defense. It was her job to contact churches and organizations in the black communities and encourage members to participate in civilian defense activities. “Everywhere I go, the women are eager to volunteer for duty,” said Jessie. “Already, there are hundreds in every defense activity, and they are tremendously enthused about their jobs. Many of them have sons or husbands in the armed forces, and if you don’t think these women take their services seriously, you should watch them work!”

  People registered to become Civilian Defense volunteers at libraries, schools, and police stations. They were required to be “able-bodied, self-reliant, of good character,” and between 30 and 50 years old. The Committee on Civilian Defense had set a goal of registering 150,000 volunteers in Baltimore, where black public school teachers volunteered their time to register volunteers. After registrants were organized, classes were offered to train them in their specific job duties.

  After the registrants completed classes, they were given exams. If they passed the exams, they were evaluated for their “character, reputation and ability to lead other people during a crisis.” Typically the classes were segregated, and black volunteers were placed only in black communities. Sometimes black volunteers were delayed in getting into classes because officials practiced discriminatory practices—refusing to place black and white volunteers in classes together. It meant black people who wanted to volunteer sometimes had to wait until there was a group of other black potential volunteers large enough to make up a class.

  By March 1942 the city of Baltimore had registered close to 600 volunteers as air raid wardens. But many more were needed. There was a need for auxiliary firefighters and police too. The city was divided into sectors and precincts. Civilian Defense regulations called for four wardens for every 500 persons in a sector. Ten sectors made up a precinct. There were 120 precincts in northwest Baltimore alone. This area of the city was predominantly black. Citizens were urged to volunteer. But because of segregation, blacks who were interested in volunteering couldn’t begin classes. The Committee on Civilian Defense promised that if 20 “qualified colored applicants” registered, a class would be offered for black firefighters. In the meantime, eager black volunteers had to wait. The city’s discriminatory practices interfered with the country’s need for volunteers in critical wartime areas. But racism won out over wartime preparedness.

  While segregation could be a barrier to blacks who tried to volunteer, it didn’t stop those determined black women who wanted to aid the war effort. In Washington, DC, Blanche Bennett organized housewives in her apartment building into salvage crews. In Brooklyn, New York, two labor leaders—Dolly Lowther and Charlotte Adelmond of the Laundry Workers Union—used their organizational skills to coordinate block volunteers in the Brownsville section of the city. The Metropolitan Council of Negro Women in Manhattan, New York, trained and sent speakers to churches and other organizations to explain the confusing point-rationing system to housewives. The 80-member Women’s Motor Corps raised money and bought an ambulance for the 15th Regiment of the New York National Guard.

  The Atlanta University School of Social Work in Georgia was the site of a two-week institute in 1942 to train black volunteers to work in social welfare agencies. It was the first program of its kind in the nation for black citizens. The institute was conducted at the request of the OCD for the purpose of preparing volunteers to help staff social welfare offices that were seeing increased demands as a result of the war. Fifty-five black men and women completed the courses. Most were college graduates and were employed as teachers, nurses, librarians, beauticians, or clerks. During the course of the institute, participants completed 12 hours of “practical work” in the agency where they would be assigned. Upon completion of the course, they were awarded special certificates from the university.

  In Chicago, Alva Bates organized the Women’s Division for the Sale of War Bonds. The women set up booths in hotels and other locations around the city. Also in Chicago a Civilian Defense Corps made up of 53 women operated the Consumer Information Service in a public library. They distributed information about nutrition and tips for housewives on how to make healthy meals as they dealt with food shortages. Ruth Pettiford headed up the only black unit of the Red Cross Motor Corps in Chicago. Members worked with the Wool Conservation Program to collect fabric from shops and homes.

  The black New York Beauticians Volunteer Corps was organized in August 1942 by Maude Gadsden. By October 1943 the 250 members of the group had sold $300,000 worth of war bonds. Their goal was to reach the $1 million mark. The Harlem chapter of the Corps led the race. Katherine Burton was the top saleswoman, having sold $7,000 worth of bonds. The women set up booths in beauty shops, churches, and theaters. Citizens were encouraged to “Back the attack” with their purchase of bonds. By early 1944 the Beauticians Volunteer Corps had reached the $500,000 mark in bond sales.

  Other black women’s organizations and individual women contributed many hours to help finance the war. They promoted war bond drives and rallies, distributed literature, canvassed from door to door—keeping the program before the public and “combing the community for the extra small change which otherwise might be unwisely spent.”

  Mattie W. Stewart, a waitress in the officers’ dining room of the Bowery Savings Bank in New York City, sold a quarter million dollars’ worth of bonds. As she sold lunches to the bank officers she told them she was working to promote bond sales for the sake of her son, who was a sergeant in the US Army. Her story inspired the bank officers to contribute generously to her efforts.

  Dora Lewis was less successful in her early efforts. Dora was a black woman who tried to do her part for the war. When she set out to get pledges for war bonds in New York City, white residents of one neighborhood refused to sign pledges just because Dora was black. Dora reported the problems she encountered to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). The problem was reported to the chairman of the New York War Bond Pledge Drive. It was pointed out that the situation was insulting to blacks who volunteered their services to their country. When Dora’s experiences were reported in a New York newspaper, pledges poured in to her. One came from the mayor of New York City—Mayor F. H. LaGuardia asked Dora to his office, where he wrote her a check.

  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 acr
oss 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 o
f 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.