the confidence he has in the Senate, and not only as a Member of the Senate, but of the public at large. Now we will proceed with the testimony and we will try to confine ourselves as best we can to the issues here involved. I would like to ask this question, though, if I may, and that is this. You have spoken about matters of anthropology and knowledge of literature and knowledge of this civilization in Africa. Now you referred also to your schooling in Florida. Would you tell us, please, what has been your schooling? Mr. RANDOLPH. My schooling, including going to City College of New York? Senator DONNELL. How long were you in the City College of New York? Mr. RANDOLPH. About 3 years. Senator DONNELL. Did you take a degree there? Mr. RANDOLPH. No. Senator DONNELL. Did you study anthropology? Mr. RANDOLPH. Anthropology, political economy, then took courses in various other schools, Cooper Union, and so forth. I made a specialty of anthropology and political economy. Senator DONNELL. Are you able to give us the name of any book that will tell us of the civilization which you refer to? Mr. RANDOLPH. Yes. Franz Boas. Senator DONNELL. Where is Mr. Boas located? Mr. RANDOLPH. He was professor of anthropology in Columbia University 4 years. Senator DONNELL. Is he a brother of Dr. Ernest Boas? Mr. RANDOLPH. I don't know that he is, but then there is Herscovitz, who is an eminent anthropologist. Senator DONNELL. And do those gentlemen have their books tell of this civilization in Africa? Mr. RANDOLPH. That is right, and I will refer other books to the committee. Senator DONNELL. Very well. We will be glad to have those references. Thank you for sending it to the clerk of the committee. You may proceed. Mr. RANDOLPH. Now bill S. 984 does not seek to make white workers, black workers, or Jewish, or Catholic workers love each other, but to respect each others' rights to work and to live. It would outlaw employer exploitation of prejudice by outlawing discrimination in employment. It would be unlawful to play white against black, Protestant against Catholic, Anglo-Americans against Spanish-speaking Americans, and vice versa. It is well nigh axiomatic that the instinct to live in human beings, regardless of race or color, religion or national origin, is so strong that they will fight for the right to work in order to live. Hence, it is apparent that racial, color, and religious conflict may beset and plague our country as a result of increased tensions incident to discriminations in employment relations, unless the Congress shows the social vision and wisdom to enact S. 984. For this reason, the enactment of this bill will play an effective and constructive role in achieving social peace in our various communities in the postwar era. Without fair employment to supplement and complement full employment, the poison of Hitler's fascism may get into the blood stream of our country and run to the heart of our Nation. In very truth, there cannot be full employment unless there is fair employment. This is true not only with respect to numbers but also in relation to the utilization of the skills of the minorities and it is apparent that there cannot be fair employment without a fair employment law with enforcement powers. Senator ELLENDER. In respect to your full employment statement, Randolph Mr. RANDOLPH. I still resent that usage, and I want that to be known. Senator ELLENDER. Yes; and I am going to keep on calling you Randolph. Some time ago, I think it was yesterday or the day before, I saw in some local paper a statement to the effect that employment had reached its highest peak, something over 58,000,000. Do you know of any other period when more people were employed in any greater number? Fifty-eight million is the highest record in the history of our country. Mr. RANDOLPH. Well, I understand from reports from organizations such as the YWCA, YMCA, and trade-unions that there is already now an increasing unemployment line at the various employment offices, and it is roughly estimated that throughout the country at the present time there are about three or four million people unemployed at this very time. In New York City alone, the relief rolls have increased. Senator ELLENDER. Isn't that the average run of unemployed? In other words, you must realize that when we say peak of employment, there is always a floating population of a million and a half to two and a half million who are not employed. They are either traveling or doing something else not listed as work. In other words, we have a constant floating unemployed population. Mr. RANDOLPH. That is right. You have what is known as residual unemployment. Senator ELLENDER. Yes. Other than that, isn't it true that we have today very few unemployed who are qualified and desire work? Mr. RANDOLPH. A very good number. For instance, we got a report, our national council did, from Seattle, Wash., that at the present time, 30 percent of the Negroes are unemployed, following the old pattern of being the first fired and the last hired, 30 percent of the Negroes in Seattle, Wash. Senator ELLENDER. Well, that is because, I believe, of the large migration to Seattle during the war. Mr. RANDOLPH. That isn't the basic reason. The basic reason is that Negroes are first fired. They are laid off first. Senator ELLENDER. But I say they are in the nature of newcomers. They are transients. Isn't it a fact that it is because of the influx of the colored people who came there during the war and who remained, and wouldn't it be natural for an employer to keep on his pay roll those of the old inhabitants who were already there? Mr. RANDOLPH. No. There was an influx of white people along with the Negroes, too. Senator ELLENDER. You don't mean to say that all of them were employed. Mr. RANDOLPH. Well, the whites came into Seattle along with the Negroes, but the ratio of unemployment among the Negroes is greater than among the whites, and it is due to the fact that discrimination has operated in the case. Senator ELLENDER. Well, do you know the percentage of whites who went into Seattle in contrast to the colored? Mr. RANDOLPH. I don't know the exact percentage. Senator ELLENDER. Don't you think that that would be a fair way to measure it? Mr. RANDOLPH. Well, the outstanding fact is this unusual unemployment among the Negroes, and it is unquestionably the consequence of the fact that Negroes are first fired, but it isn't due to the fact they are newcomers alone, because the whites were newcomers, too. Senator ELLENDER. When you say 30 percent, do you mean 30 percent of the colored were fired? Mr. RANDOLPH. Were unemployed at the present time. Senator ELLENDER. Well, would that number constitute the greater portion of the colored who migrated there during the war? Mr. RANDOLPH. I wouldn't say it applied only to those who migrated there, but it just shows that the war gains that Negroes were counting upon are now being washed away, and that is the reason why this fair employment bill is so necessary. Senator ELLENDER. Well, now, do you know-if you don't, we might get it from some other source-but do you know the colored population in Oregon? Mr. RANDOLPH. Yes. I think in Portland is where the bulk of the Negro population is. I think at the present time they have about six or seven thousand. Senator ELLENDER. Do you know what percentage of those are employed? Mr. RANDOLPH. No; I don't know exactly, but there has been an increasing number of unemployed Negroes in Portland, too. I just came from the Pacific coast. Senator ELLENDER. Do you know whether or not this six or seven thousand represents an increase over what it was before the war? Mr. RANDOLPH. Yes. Senator ELLENDER. To what extent? Mr. RANDOLPH. To a considerable extent. I just want to leave this thought with you, Senator, that the Negroes were not the only people who migrated to the cities of the Northwest or to the cities of the North or the East. The whites in the South migrated to those places, too. For instance, you go to Detroit and you will find in the various automobile factories a large number of southern people who came along with the Negroes. Hence, it was not a movement of Negroes alone. It was a movement of people from the South into the northern areas. But the point I am making here is that the Negroes are the chief victims when the reduction in force begins. In other words, they are first fired. Senator DONNELL. May I make an inquiry for a moment as to the approximate length of the testimony yet to be given by the witness and the cross-examination? Senator ELLENDER. I am through, Senator. I will get the information I referred to. Senator DONNELL. And I would suggest that the clerk send Mr. Randolph a statement describing where the article is to be found, that he shall likewise, if he desires, file an answer to the article. That is fair, isn't it, Senator? Senator ÉLLENDER. Perfectly all right. Mr. RANDOLPH. That is fine. (Excerpts from the American magazine article referred to follow :) EXCERPTS FROM ARTICLE ENTITLED "BLACK BRAIN TRUST," WRITTEN BY WILLIAM A. H. BIRNIE, WHICH APPEARED IN THE JANUARY 1943 ISSUE OF THE AMERICAN MAGAZINE It had been a red-letter day for a powerful organization, hereto unpublicized, known as the black brain trust. This black brain trust consists of about 25 Negro leaders who have assumed command of America's 13,000,000 Negroes in their fight for equality. They hold informal meetings to plan their strategy, whether it is to defeat a discriminatory bill in Congress or to overcome prejudice against a black private. Few white men know it, but they have already opened a new front in America—a front dedicated to the liberation of the dark races. Some white leaders accuse them of "taking advantage of the war." They boldly admit it, insisting that if this is a war for liberty they want theirs. They argue that their fight serves the American cause on two fronts: It will put an end to the apathy of many Negroes toward a war in which they say they have no real stake, and it will secure America's position abroad among the black, brown, and yellow peoples of Central and South America, India, Malaya, Burma, and China. The final objective of the black brain trust, as outlined to the author of this article, is economic and political equality for Negroes-total abolition of “secondclass citizenship." But the immediate program embraces this eight-point program. Probably the most telling action of the black brain trust led to the second Presidential Executive order dealing with Negroes in American history, 78 years after the first-President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation. Early in 1941 Negroes throughout the country were grumbling about their exclusion from defense jobs. The "brain trusters" decided to take direct action. A. Philip Randolph, president of the International Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, an A. F. of L. union, with about 11,000 Negro members, proposed a mass march on Washington. Soon there were reports that an army of 50,000 Negroes would march on the capital and picket the White House on July 1. As the dead line approached, politicos put the screws on Randolph. "Don't do it," they argued. “You'll just inflame southern Senators and you'll be worse off than ever." A few years back that argument probably would have prevailed, but Randolph was adamant. "The march must go on," he said. "I am sure it will do some good." Finally, President Roosevelt himself summoned Randolph, White, and several other Negro leaders to the White House. Besides the President, Secretary of War Stimson, Secretary of the Navy Knox, and key officials of the then existing Office of Production Management attended the conference. Randolph told his story bluntly. He reported that doors of defense plants were being closed to Negro workers, and feelings were running high. He wanted a Presidential antidiscrimination order with teeth in it. A few days later, Randolph was called in again and shown the draft of an order committing defense industries only. "Not enough," said Randolph, in effect. Unless the order included Government agencies as well as defense industries, he was sorry but the march would take place as planned. The Negroes stood pat, and the administration gave ground. Executive Order 8802 was issued: 118 * that it is the policy of the United States to encourage full participation in the national defense program by all citizens in the United States, regardless of race, creed, color, or national origin * ** that all departments and agencies of the Government concerned with vocational and training programs for the defense production shall take special measures appropriate to assure that such programs are administered without discrimination, and that all contracting agencies of the Government shall include in all defense contracts hereafter negotiated by them a provision obligating the contractor not to discriminate." "It was purely a knock-down-drag-out affair," Randolph told me when I talked with him in his union office above a drugstore in a Harlem loft. "I don't want any one to think I called off that march on Washington permanently. That's still our ace in the hole. We could rally thousands of Negroes to stage it next week." (Mr. Randolph's communication follows:) Mr. PHILIP R. RODGERS, NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR A PERMANENT FAIR EMPLOYMENT PRACTICE COMMITTEE, Washington 4, D. C., September 15, 1947. Clerk of the Committee on Labor and Public Welfare, The Capitol, Washington, D. C. DEAR MR. RODGERS: This will acknowledge receipt of your recent letter regarding testimony to be included in the record at the request of Senator Ellender. which purports to be an excerpt from an article in the American. You may include this insertion without objection or comment from me. Sincerely yours, APR/EH A. Philip Randolph, Senator DONNELL. I see it is approximately 23 minutes after 5, but I am not hurrying you. I want to say this, that I want to make a plan of just about when we can adjourn for the day, but you go right ahead. Mr. RANDOLPH. For the clarification of our own thinking and, we hope, for the convenience of the committee and other Members of the Congress and the public, we have prepared a comparison of S. 984 with S. 101, and this is the statement, Senator, which was prepared by some of the members of our legal committee, especially Mr. Delson. Now we would like to have Mr. Delson appear here to discuss the differences in those bills for the benefit of the committee. He worked and cooperated with other lawyers, with Lawyer Tuttle, who wrote the bill, so that he knows the bills from beginning to end and is quite qualified to discuss the constitutional aspect and the various phases of the bill. Senator DONNELL. Now as to the matter of the exhibit which the witness has handed in, it will be received and filed with the records of this committee. As to whether or not it will be printed will depend upon the judgment of the committee. I may say in that connection so that the witness may understand this is not an arbitrary ruling. Our own staff has prepared a comparative print of S. 101 and S. 984 which is printed, and, naturally, we do not want to duplicate the work: so that it will be understood this will be received for the files and that the committee will use its best judgment as to whether it shall be printed. Now as to the matter of the appearance of this gentleman to whom you refer, I am unable to give you any information on that at this time. I may state that, as announced at the outset this morning, it was stated by myself in the Senate on May 5, 1947, that it is hoped that the hearings may be completed in a period of 6 days, consisting of June 11, 12, 13, 18, 19, and 20. The time limitations are such that we can't hear everybody, but we would be very glad to have a written statement from this gentleman, if he cares to furnish it, and I am not going to make any promise as to whether we will be able to take him in person. But if you will give us his address-do you know what that is now? |