< Back to Timeline

  Timeline:
  EVENTS

  Wave of Immigration
  Hollerith Machine
  Chicago World's Fair
  Turner Frontier Essay
  Growth of Cities
  The Melting Pot
  World War I
  Sheppard-Towner Act
  Immigration Laws
  Stock Market Crash
  Great Depression
  1936 Election
  World War II
  Executive Order 8802
  1948 Election
  Civil Rights Act
  Deregulation
  "Goldilocks" Economy
  Census 2000

Executive Order 8802

1941 - Defense plants initially resisted hiring African-Americans. But in 1941, A. Philip Randolph (front, center), president of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, threatened to have 100,000 blacks march on Washington to protest job discrimination. President Franklin Roosevelt yielded to Randolph's demand. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 8802, prohibiting discrimination in defense jobs or government. 

Executive Order 8802 constituted the first major federal government response to the plight of blacks since Reconstruction. Executive Order 8802 has been called a second Emancipation Proclamation. Sociologist William Julius Wilson has pointed out the war accelerated the entry of blacks into goods-producing industries and helped reduce black poverty.

Related Links:

Program Segment 6

<< Back to Timeline

PBS Program | Trends of the Century | Viewer's Voices | Interactivity | Teacher's Guide