Race Relations (Black and White) on the Homefront during World WarII - Research Paper Example

Race, racism and race relations have thus been a complicated issue in the history of the United States. This is drawn from the strange institution that slavery created all the way into the civil rights movement in the 1960s. Even during the time America was supposed to be joined as one, in the World War 2, these scarred relations still popped their head, not only abroad on the battle fields but also back home at the home front (Parsons, & O’Brien, 9). One significant factor during the Second World War on the Home front was the Fair Employment Practices (FEPC) implemented in the United States by the US Executive Order number 8802.

This required companies with contracts from the government not to discriminate on the basis of religion or race. It was a move intended to help Mostly African Americans, but other minorities to obtain jobs in the home front industry. It was signed by President Roosevelt and stated that there was not supposed to be discrimination in the employment of workers in the government or the defense industry based on their race, or creed or color, or the nation from which they draw their ancestry. This order led to numerous strikes and challenges from irate white workers who so it as an infringement on their rights (Garfinkel, 37).

African Americans It was later greatly enhanced by another order. Considered one of the most significant breakthroughs for Blacks and women on the job front, it also facilitated great industry in the country at the home front during the war. It was about the same time that the African American Community established the Double V Campaign. It was a campaign based not only on the war on fascism overseas during the war, but also on racism too at home. There was a large number of mostly poor Southerners who moved to munitions centers for the recruitment process.

The tension that was at these centers was very high. Cities like Detroit, Chicago and Harlem were mostly the focal points of this tension. In 1943, they experienced very violent race riots. It was at this time that the Pittsburgh Courier came up with the Double V Campaign (Wynn, 60). The gist of the problem back home was mostly based on the complaints by the soldiers at war overseas that they were being treated as second class citizens even during wartime. The Detroit Race riots that broke out in Detroit, Michigan in 1943 took about three days before troops could return order.

It was majorly a riot between blacks and whites and caused a lot of destruction. During around this time, the World War II was still on, and tension between blacks and whites in this city had escalated to very high levels. It is ironical that at such times, patriotism is usually said to be at the highest of levels. Since the war began, the populations of the city had gradually grown as a result of the booming defense industries intended to supply the resources for the war at the home front. A lot of African Americans arrived, mostly from the South (Capeci, & Wilkerson, 47).

The riots were started by an innocent fight between a black man and a white man. It became a brawl that involved several groups of black men and white men that spilled over to the rest of the city. This confrontation started from a rumor that a black woman had been assaulted by a white man, whereas there was another rumor that stated it was a white woman who had been raped and killed by a black man. Either