War Comes to Florida: Race
World War II sowed the seeds of the modern civil rights movement in the United States and Florida. When the war broke out, African-American newspapers—keenly aware of the disappointments following the First World War—articulated a “Double-V” campaign: Victory against tyranny abroad, but also victory over racism at home.
Over 50,000 Florida African-Americans served in the armed forces during the conflict. Their experiences in the Deep South, North, and overseas profoundly affected their lives and post-war views. The NAACP in Florida grew rapidly during the war, in part the result of prosperity, in part the result of so many grievances over equal work and racism suffered at southern military bases. A number of “race riots” erupted in Florida during the war, actions that deeply worried military and civilian officials.
But the war also offered signs of optimism and hope. On the home front, civil rights activist Harry T. Moore worked tirelessly to end racial injustices in the public school system. He effectively won black teachers equal salaries in a number of civil rights suits. Moore also agitated to end the White Primary. In 1944, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the White Primary was unconstitutional in Smith v. Allright. In the spring of 1945, black ministers led a “swim in” at a prominent white beach.
Images
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- African-American troops marching in Caldwell's Inaugural parade
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- 337th Army Service Forces band and conductor WOJG Vernon E. Proctor
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- Picture of Pvt. Gwendolyn Shelby
Documents
- "What are Negroes Doing in your Community in Volunteer Defense Work?"
- WW II document with checklist of volunteer services noting number of men and women actively engaged in those services.
- Courtesy of the Florida State Archives
- Biennial Report-Superintendent of Public Instruction
- A summary of the expenditures on Public Instruction in Florida from 1942-1944. Note the wide discrepancies between “White” and “Negro” teachers’ salaries, school expenditures, etc.
- Courtesy of the Florida State Archives
- Letter about race issues at Gordon Johnson
- A letter, presumably to Walter White of the NAACP, describing deplorable conditions for black soldiers at Camp Gordon Johnston in Carrabelle.
- Courtesy of the Library of Congress
- Letter to War Manpower Commission
- Letter from Paul McNutt, Federal Security Administrator, criticizing the policy of issuing separate Selective Service “calls” for white and black citizens. Part of the criticism is that white “husbands and fathers” are being called up while single black men are passed over in the draft. Mr. McNutt is concerned that this could lead to a lawsuit by a white registrant.
- Courtesy of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library
- Lynching investigation letter
- Letter from Harry T. Moore of the Florida chapter of the NAACP to Governor Millard Caldwell about lynchings in Florida during the war years.
- Courtesy of the Florida State Archives
- MacDill Race problems
- Letter to Walter White of the NAACP about the killing of a black soldier at MacDill field in Tampa.
- Courtesy of the Library of Congress
- Panama City Commission reaction to desegregation
- Resolution by the State Association of Commissioners of Panama City opposing President Truman’s Civil Rights Program.
- Courtesy of the Florida State Archives
- Racist Letter
- Letter from a Pensacola woman lamenting her black maid’s sentiment that “the colored boys have nothing to fight for across the waters, their trouble is here in the South.”
- Courtesy of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library
- Race problems at MacDill
- Letter from a MacDill soldier’s wife citing a racist and cruel commanding officer who is abusing the black soldiers.
- Courtesy of the Library of Congress
- Registration Card of Jimmie Cypress.
- Registration card of Seminole Indian Jimmie Cypress of the Big Cypress Indian Reservation in South Florida.
- Courtesy of the Florida State Archives
- Survey of Racial Conditions in Florida.
- A report from J. Edgar Hoover of the Federal Bureau of Investigation on racial conditions in the United States. The study investigates whether “forces with foreign influence and anti-American ideology” are working “amongst the Negro people of the country.” Florida is dealt with beginning on the third page of this document.
- Courtesy of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library
The Struggle for Voting Rights: A Series of Letters
A series of letters between Thurgood Marshall, E.L. Bryan, The Tampa Chapter of Sleeping Car Porters, and Norman Lacey regarding a lawsuit challenging the all-white primary for elections in Tampa. The series is not complete and does not reflect the ultimate outcome of the case. It does, however, reveal an interesting and somewhat tense dynamic between Thurgood Marshall and the Florida lawyers. The visual quality of the reproductions of Marshall’s letters is poor in some instances.
- Letter from Bryan & Bryan to Thurgood Marshall - July 26, 1941
- Courtesy of the Library of Congress
- Letter from Bryan & Bryan to Thurgood Marshall - August 04, 1941
- Courtesy of the Library of Congress
- Letter to Walter White about suit against Tampa Election Board - November 25, 1941
- Letter to Walter White from the Tampa Local of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters about status of suit against the Tampa Election Board for denying Negros the right to vote in the white primary.
- Courtesy of the Florida State Archives
- The Struggle for Voting Rights: Letter from Thurgood Marshall to Norman Lacey - December 16, 1941
- Courtesy of the Library of Congress
- The Struggle for Voting Rights: Letter from Bryan & Bryan to Thurgood Marshall - December 22, 1941
- Courtesy of the Library of Congress
- The Struggle for Voting Rights: Letter from Thurgood Marshall to Bryan & Bryan - December 24, 1941
- Courtesy of the Library of Congress
- The Struggle for Voting Rights: Letter from Thurgood Marshall to Norman Lacey - February 09, 1942
- Courtesy of the Library of Congress
