NEGRO EMPLOYMENT IN THE AIRCRAFT INDUSTRY.

Weaver, Robert C.

The article focuses on the employment of Negroes in the aircraft industry in the U.S. Practices which had emerged prior to World War II created the concept of the Negro as an untrained, unskilled laborer. Even democratic public education, wedded as it had been in the field of vocational training to the concept of preparing workers for specific jobs in a contracting labor market, had hesitated to train Negroes for mechanical work. Labor unions had often reacted violently against colored strike breakers, and certain craft unions, particularly in the metal trades, had a decided prejudice against Negroes. When, in 1940, there was pressure from the Negro community for employment opportunities in aircraft, management did not attempt to hide its anti-Negro bias. The most out-spoken opposition to the employment of Negroes was centered in the West Coast plants, where employment was rapidly expanding. Many circumstances and devices prevented the early entrance of Negro workers into production jobs in aircraft plants.

UNITED States; EMPLOYMENT of African Americans; AIRCRAFT industry; WORLD War II; EMPLOYMENT discrimination; LABOR unions

Quarterly Journal of Economics, 1945, Vol 59, Issue 4, p597

0033-5533

Academic Journal

10.2307/1883298