On the Move: Stories of African American Migration and Mobility: Double V Campaign
Double V Campaign
The Double V Campaign, launched in 1947, was an initiative designed to highlight the plight of African American military personnel as they worked to fight for American principles overseas during World War II while fighting for their own rights as Americans in their hometowns. The experiences of the Tuskegee Airmen exemplified this injustice. The nation's first black military pilots, they fought valiantly in the war but were barred from any other flight school in America because they were African American. African American airman stationed at Fort Bragg in North Carolina in the 1950s faced the same restrictions to their civil rights.
"I wanted to go into the service and felt this was my country.... And even though some forces in the country would deny me full citizenship, I felt I had just as much ownership in this country as anyone else. And should it become my turn to fight for my country, I would certainly do that with as much pride, honor and vigor as anyone else." - Lt. Col Harry Stewart Jr.
Exhibit materials
Albert Lockhart Scrapbook
The collection of African American soldier Albert Lockhart consists of a photographic album of black-and-white and color photographic prints. The images created between March and September of 1961 at Fort Bragg, N.C., depict training exercises and the daily life and living conditions of soldiers in the United States Army 82nd Airborne Division and the Parachute Field Artillery Battalion.
President Truman signed Executive Order 9981 in 1945 to de-segregate the military but it took a long time for the Army to subscribe. Airborne status is typically a highly sought-after designation but early Black soldiers with that status still had menial jobs and were not allowed to see combat. By the time Albert Lockhart joined the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg in 1961, the Black Parachute Infantry Battalion had established itself as “smoke jumpers” for putting out forest fires on the West Coast set by Japanese incendiary balloons and distinguished service during the Pearl Harbor attacks.
Albert Lockhart Photographic Collection, 1961 (P0095), Flat Box 1
Eugene Ballard Newspaper Article & Image
Although born in Columbus, GA, Eugene Bullard earned his wings from an aviation school in Tour, France in 1917. He went on to fly for the French military in World War 1 and serve as a spy for the Allied Forces in World War 2. While Ballard’s life outcomes are exceptional – his experiences of racism in the United States were not. After his success and accolades abroad, it was not until 1994 that the United States Air Force recognized him and posthumously commissioned him a Second Lieutenant.
Doug and Hazel Anderson Storer Collection, 1920s-2003 (5231), Folder 219
United Service Organizations Club (USO) Book-1945-1947
The United Service Organizations (USO) is designed to provide a “home away from home” and handle on leave recreation for the soldiers. The Newberry Street USO in Jacksonville, NC was established on April 23, 1942 and served the first African American Marines. The Visitor book for the United Service Organization at Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, NC from 1945-1947. African American soldiers had a separate USO club due to segregation laws in North Carolina. Soldiers visiting this location wrote down their experience with the USO often followed by their name, rank, and address.
Photo of Montford Pointe Marines
A very special bond exists among the African American men who trained at Montford Pointe between 1942 and 1949. Their participation in the Marines is book ended by two executive orders from two different Presidents and coincides with a reluctant and hateful shift in military demographics. Although the African American men were stationed near Camp Lejeune, they were not allowed to visit unless they had a white escort. James Felton, a civic leader from Hertford County, NC joined the Marines in 1943 and spent three years at Montford Point.
The collection consists of materials documenting teacher and community activist James A. Felton's life, focusing on his civic activities and achievements, especially those related to the C. S. Brown Regional Cultural Arts Center and Museum and the People's Program on Poverty. It includes correspondence; programs for meetings and events held by educational, religious, and civic organizations; and newspaper clippings describing Felton's civic contributions in Hertford County, N.C. Also included are a short biography of Annie Vaughan Felton and some materials that she collected after her husband's death. Photographs show James A. Felton throughout his adult life with his family, his colleagues, and his students at the Migrant and Seasonal Farmworkers Training Center. The Addition of August 2014 consists of personal and professional papers of James A. Felton and Annie Vaughan Felton, chiefly relating to civic engagements, including the C. S. Brown Cultural Arts Center and Museum, People's Program on Poverty, the North Carolina Family Life Council, and the Montford Point Marines. Documents include correspondence, sermons, event programs, photographs, reports, and newsletters.
James A. Felton and Annie Vaughan Felton Papers, 1938-2015 (5161), Folder 29
Double V Campaign pamphlet
The Double V campaign drew on the power of the Black press to articulate the emotional status of the majority of Black Americans. As the newspaper was frequently called to report on racial oppression, it was also well positioned to point to the hypocrisy of Black soldiers fighting for a country that openly terrorized them. The campaign was first introduced in a 1942 edition of the Pittsburgh Courier and continued in the Chicago Defender as well as smaller Southern papers in Norfolk and Durham.
Black Print Culture Collection, Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives and Rare Book Library, Emory University
Hawks cry. by Call Number: D810.N4 H39 v.3:no.13(1944:Apr.1) StatusPublication Date: 1944The Tuskegee Airmen are the legendary Black aviators that showed the world the incredible capabilities of Black soldiers in combat. Between 1941-1946, they flew 1578 combat missions and close to 200 bomber escort missions with a good record of protection. After their heroism in combat, the servicemen refused to stay on segregated bases, and 101 of them were arrested by the United States Air Force in 1945 for their protest.
Additional resources
Double V by Call Number: UG834.A37 S36 1994ISBN: 9780870139536Publication Date: 1998-12-31On April 12, 1945, the United States Army Air Force arrested 101 of its African American officers. They were charged with disobeying a direct order from a superior officer--a charge that could carry the death penalty upon conviction. They were accused of refusing to sign an order that would have placed them in segregated housing and recreational facilities. Their plight was virtually ignored by the press at the time, and books written about the subject did not detail the struggle these aviators underwent to win recognition of their civil rights. The central theme of Double V is the promise held out to African American military personnel that service in World War II would deliver to them a double victory--a "double V"--over tyranny abroad and racial prejudice at home. The book's authors, Lawrence P. Scott and William M. Womack Sr., chronicle for the first time, in detail, one of America's most dramatic failures to deliver on that promise. In the course of their narrative, the authors demonstrate how the Tuskegee airmen suffered as second-class citizens while risking their lives to serve their country. Among the contributions made by this work is a detailed examination of how 101 Tuskegee airmen, by refusing to live in segregated quarters, triggered one of the most significant judicial proceedings in U.S. military history. Double V uses oral accounts and heretofore unused government documents to portray this little-known struggle by one of America's most celebrated flying units. In addition to providing background material about African American aviators before World War II. the authors also demonstrate how the Tuskegee airmen's struggle foretold dilemmas faced by the civil rights movement in the second half of the 20th century. Double V is destined to become an important contribution in the rapidly growing body of civil rights literature.- "Double V in North Carolina: The Carolina Times and the Struggle for Racial Equality during World War II." Journalism History, vol. 32, no. 3, 2006, pp. 156-167. by Call Number: PN4700 .J65Publication Date: 2006
- 'Triple nickles' recall days of segregated armyGonzalez, Kris. 2010. U.S.Department of Defense Information / FIND (Feb. 18)
The Tuskegee Airmen Chronology by Call Number: D810.N4 H38 2017ISBN: 9781588383419Publication Date: 2018-01-01The Tuskegee Airmen Chronology: A Detailed Timeline of the Red Tails and Other Black Pilots of World War II provides a unique year-by-year overview of the fascinating story of the Tuskegee Airmen, embracing important events in the formation of the first military training for black pilots in United States history, the phases of their training at various air fields in Tuskegee and elsewhere, their continued training at other bases around the United States, and their deployment overseas, first to North Africa and then to Sicily and Italy. The book is the fifth on the subject by Airmen expert Dr. Daniel Haulman.The Tuskegee Airmen are best known for flying P-47s and red-tailed P-51s to escort B-17 and B-24 bombers deep into enemy territory. Their exemplary performance proved conclusively that given the opportunity and resources black men could fly and fight in combat every bit as well as their white counterparts. They lost fewer bombers than the other fighter groups, and they shot down 112 enemy aircraft.The Tuskegee Airmen Chronology also includes abundant information on the many Tuskegee Airmen who were not fighter pilots, including B-25 bomber crews who trained in the U. S., and the thousands of Tuskegee Airmen who served as ground support. They fought two enemies, Nazis in Europe and racism at home, and through their dedication and efforts earned a hard-won double victory.
Richard E. Norman and Race Filmmaking by ISBN: 9780253010728Publication Date: 2013-11-08In the early 1900s, so-called race filmmakers set out to produce black-oriented pictures to counteract the racist caricatures that had dominated cinema from its inception. Richard E. Norman, a southern-born white filmmaker, was one such pioneer. From humble beginnings as a roving "home talent" filmmaker, recreating photoplays that starred local citizens, Norman would go on to produce high-quality feature-length race pictures. Together with his better-known contemporaries Oscar Micheaux and Noble and George Johnson, Richard E. Norman helped to define early race filmmaking. Making use of unique archival resources, including Norman's personal and professional correspondence, detailed distribution records, and newly discovered original shooting scripts, this book offers a vibrant portrait of race in early cinema.- Pioneers of African-American cinema. DVD includes 1926, "The Flying Ace" byPublication Date: 2016Includes the 1926 film directed by Richard Norman ; "The Flying Ace" (65 min. ; 1926) / written, produced and directed by Richard E. Norman ; produced at the Norman Studios.
Among the most fascinating chapters of film history is that of the so-called "race films" that flourished in the 1920s -'40s. Unlike the "black cast" films produced within the Hollywood studio system, these films not only starred African Americans but were funded, written, produced, edited, distributed, and often exhibited by people of color. Entrepreneurial filmmakers built an industry apart from the Hollywood establishment, cultivating visual and narrative styles that were uniquely their own.
