Double V campaign

rdf:langString Double V campaign

rdf:langString The Double V campaign was a slogan and drive to promote the fight for democracy in overseas campaigns and at the home front in the United States for African Americans during World War II. The Double V refers to the "V for victory" sign prominently displayed by countries fighting "for victory over aggression, slavery, and tyranny," but adopts a second "V" to represent the double victory for African Americans fighting for freedom overseas and at home. The campaign first appeared in the African-American newspaper Pittsburgh Courier on February 7, 1942. Being the largest circulated black newspaper with around 350,000 copies circulated during the war; hence other black newspapers followed suit including the Chicago Defender and the Amsterdam Star News in embracing the motto and symbol of Double V. The slogan was prompted by a response to the letter, "Should I Sacrifice to Live 'Half American?'" written by 26-year-old reader James G. Thompson. It was also in a response to Franklin D. Roosevelt encouraged five editors of the top black newspapers in the United States to reduce their discontent and apathy of the war; to which they did not reduce their discontent but changed to the two pronged approach of the Double V campaign. Pitched as "Democracy – Double Victory, At Home – Abroad", the campaign highlighted the risks black soldiers and civilians took while participating in America's struggle against the Axis powers while being denied their rights as full American citizens back home. African-American soldiers fighting abroad in the Second World War were still subject to segregation within the armed forces, despite fighting on land that did not hold the same racist ideology which was especially soldiers from the North, as they were denied a part on the front line; instead being subjugated to menial roles due to prejudices about their abilities. It was not until July 28, 1948 when President Harry S. Truman put forth Executive Order 9981 that ordered the integration of the armed forces. Among African-Americans, the Double V campaign had a 91% approval rating and was supported by various organizations, such as North Carolina A&T State University and United Automobile Workers. Contributing factors to the campaign's success were the discrimination that black soldiers experienced in the military who drew connections between the United States' treatment of blacks to Nazi Germany's treatment of Jews in a case study comparing Georgia to Germany finding similarities, as well as wartime injustices such as the Port Chicago disaster and Agana race riot that underscored the necessity for victory at home. The campaign also played a role at home in encouraging defense industries to hire African-American employees who left the South in large numbers for the urban North and West Coast during the Second Great Migration to help the nation's war effort.