It was not a posthumous analysis by a historian, but a view of the situation from someone who lived through the period.
My analysis will focus on the article entitled “Jim Crow Guide to USA”, specifically the practice of prejudicial hiring and the impact of migrant workers. Hopefully, this examination will enable us to gather additional insights about the role employment played in inciting the rioters in 1968. The section of the article I would like to focus on is entitled “Last Hired, First Fired”. This title is alluding to the experience of black Americans who were often passed over by employers, to fill positions that were reserved for whites only. In instances when all other possibilities have been exhausted, black Americans considered for positions within the organization. But their employment was never secure because, whenever staff reductions were necessary black were generally the first to be let go.
Authors Kennedy and Gardner, cite the employment discrepancy that were found as a result of the 1940 U.S. Census and national employment numbers. Those statistics revealed there was a growing discrepancy between black and white employment levels over the last decade (1940's), which was significant because that decade was marked by prosperity due to booming war industries. The data indicated that by 1947, 6% of the black work force was unemployed, compared to the 2% of the white workforce. In retrospect this inequality should have never existed, simply because manufacturing companies during the 1940's had needed as many workers as possible to fulfill military equipment orders. This should have been a time when every available American was employed in supporting the war efforts, but instead the statistics gives us another picture. In-spite of the availability of openings in busy manufacturing companies, blacks were unable to translate those opportunities into longterm employment.
(The short video above is about A. Philip Randolph, who was a civil rights pioneer. Randolph was the first civil rights leader to plan a march on Washington. The march was planned in response to racial discrimination in war industries, and for the desegregation of the Armed Forces.)
John R. Breihan, in From Mobtown to Charm City, discusses the employment challenges faced by Baltimore's black residents during this this era. Breihan recounts the experience of African Americans at the Glenn Martin Aircraft Company (GMAC). Who despite a shortage of workers refused to hire black employees to fill empty positions, but instead filled them with white migrant workers from southern states. In another instance GMAC “laid off all but thirteen of its three thousands black workers” (188), in order to hire white union workers to replace the black staff. From the perspective of a black city resident who were willing to work, those experience must have done tremendous damage to their hopes for equality.
Not being able to capitalize on the workers shortage sent a clear message to black community; you are not wanted. This message would be heard whenever black men and women were denied job applications because of their skin color. The message would be heard every time a black worker read the sign on the bathroom door saying; “Whites only”. The message would resound throughout deteriorating black communities, when white only communities were built for migrant factory workers. That message would provide a rallying point for the black community; self determination and perseverance would bring about change. But that message would also contribute to a movement within the community, that could only be expressed through destruction. No matter how many laws were passed to abolish prejudice, or non-violent marches that were held to highlight the problems. The experience of Baltimore's black community validated the theory by Stetson Kennedy & Elizabeth Gardner, unless you were a “native born protestant” you would face employment discrimination.(Images used courtesy of Google Images)
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