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When Bunche went to Washington in 1940, he was very much concerned
that African Americans were going to be left out of what was
becoming the war effort, and in fact they were completely left
out. They were at best janitors in some factories. They had
no serious place in the work force which was going to make America
into the arsenal of democracy, and he was very anxious to get
that point of view across in the White House. So he wrote to
Mrs. Roosevelt, as I remember it, with twelve points about what
really had to be done to correct this, and to his enormous surprise,
he instantly received an invitation to lunch; and he was extremely
impressed with Mrs. Roosevelt, with her candor, with her openess,
with her complete lack of any prejudices of any kind, and her
great interest in the problem. And I think it did have some
effect because very shortly thereafter we got the equal opportunities
commission and all these things, pieces of legislation which
were the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement. |
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