1940: Negroes, American

A gradual shifting of the Negro's position in American life was to be noted during 1940. Part of the shift was heartening, part the reverse. In the courts of law and of public opinion notable gains were made. The Federal Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the verdict of the Federal District Court in a case brought by Melvin Alston, a Negro teacher in the public schools of Norfolk, Va., and by the Norfolk Teachers' Association challenging the differential in salaries paid Negro and white teachers in the public schools. The lower court had denied Alston's complaint. The economic importance of this case to the Negro is to be seen in the estimate that the differential in salaries paid teachers of the two races is in excess of $1,000,000 annually, although white and Negro teachers are required to meet the same qualifications of education, experience, ability and character. The total differential for eighteen southern states from which Negro teachers suffer is estimated to be between $20,000,000 and $25,000,000 a year. The Norfolk School Board appealed the C.C.A. decision to the United States Supreme Court but that court dismissed the appeal and thereby affirmed the C.C.A. decision, declaring such racial differentials to be a violation of the Constitution and ordering their abolition.

Similar actions both in and outside the courts were stimulated by the Alston decision in other counties of Virginia and in other southern states. In Louisville, Ky., the local press, notably the Courier-Journal, gave active support to the Negro teachers in a similar effort, and the Mayor of Louisville with the authorization of the Board of Aldermen offered to appropriate the sum necessary to equalize teachers' salaries in that city.

In a notable decision on Lincoln's birthday, Mr. Justice Hugo Black on behalf of the Supreme Court reversed the convictions of four Florida Negroes from whom 'confessions' had been extorted by torture. Later in the year the same court acted to save the lives of Dave Canty in Alabama and Bob White in Texas.

A temporary set-back in the efforts of Negroes to secure professional and graduate training in tax-supported state schools of the South was given to Lucile Bluford who sought graduate training in journalism at the University of Missouri, the court ruling that Missouri should be given time to set up a jim crow school for Negroes. An appeal was taken from that decision.

Most difficult of problems faced by the Negro in 1940 was the discrimination he encountered in the National Defense Program. Not only was there such discrimination in the Army, Navy, Air Corps and Marine Corps, but in the industrial phases. Discrimination by employers and in some instances by labor unions prevented qualified Negroes from working in the plants filling contracts for the $17,000,000,000 defense program voted by Congress, although Negroes are taxed at the same rate as others for this and other governmental activities.

In the American literary world, one of the 1940 sensations was Richard Wright's 'Native Son,' which aroused widespread controversy and which was for many months a best-seller. Its depiction of the effect of proscription and segregation upon some Negroes shocked many of its readers. Langston Hughes' 'The Big Sea' was a fascinating revelation of the life and experiences of a sensitive and talented Negro poet. Other volumes were published by well-known Negro writers, including Claude McKay's 'Harlem: Negro Metropolis'; Charles Wesley's 'The Negro in the Americas'; Ira De A. Reid's 'In a Minor Key — A Study for the American Youth Commission'; W. E. B. Du Bois' 'Dusk of Dawn,' as well as other books such as 'The Negro in Virginia,' written by Negro writers on the Virginia WPA Writers' Project.

Paul Robeson made Ballad for Americans one of the outstanding songs; while And They Lynched Him on a Tree, a poem by Katherine Garrison Chapin with music by William Grant Still, was presented at the Lewisohn Stadium in New York City to an enthusiastic audience. Marian Anderson and the new Negro concert star, Dorothy Maynor, sang in all parts of the United States, as did Paul Robeson, to large and enthusiastic audiences.

In sports, Joe Louis continued to meet all comers as heavyweight champion and continued to be invincible. Henry Armstrong, one-time holder of three titles, neared the end of his pugilistic career. Negro football stars continued to perform brilliantly.