Executive Order 9981

Activism during World War II

As World War II raged, American politicians and pundits argued that the nation had to protect the globe's democracies. Concurrently, African Americans and others openly discussed the fight to create democracy at home. Acting on the suggestion of an anonymous black woman, labor organizer A. Philip Randolph launched the March on Washington movement in January 1941. Although the march never took place, the threat of a mass protest forced Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt to issue Executive Order 8802, which prohibited racial discrimination in hiring by defense contractors. This was only a partial victory for African American activists, who wanted to desegregate the military as well.

Black journalists and civic leaders seized upon the language of the Atlantic Charter's “four freedoms” and demanded that the federal government prove its commitment to such noble ideals. Although African Americans had fought in every American conflict, racist assumptions persisted within the military that either limited the enlistment of black soldiers or confined them to subordinate and non-combat duties. In September 1940, a group of black leaders, including Randolph and Walter White, executive secretary of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, sent President Roosevelt a seven-point program recommending, among other things, that recruitment, training, and mobilization of troops be determined by ability rather than race.

Concurrently, Judge William Hastie, appointed by the president as a civilian aide to Sec. of War Henry L. Stimson in 1941, worked from inside the War Department to remove racial barriers. Believing that Stimson and the uniformed military leadership clung to segregationist beliefs and wanted to keep black troops out of combat, Hastie resigned in protest on January 15, 1943.

Following the Allied victory in 1945, Brig. Gen. Benjamin O. Davis Sr.'s reports on racism in the military added another plank to the platform for racial justice in the military. In particular, Davis pointed to the nearly impossible task facing black soldiers who were asked to maintain high morale as they faced daily mistreatment. Furthermore, Davis asserted that the Army was reinforcing, rather than defusing and refusing to support, this hostile environment. Consequently, he recommended—among other things—that black troops be removed from bases in the South and be assigned black officers. Despite all these efforts, many of the greatest arguments on behalf of soldiers of color came from the crucible of war.

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