Black San Francisco: The Struggle for Racial Equality in the West, 1900-1954 9780700606849

Citation preview

BLACK SAN FRANCISCO

BLACK SAN FRANCISCO The Struggle for Racial Equality in the West, 1900-1954 ALBERT S. BROUSSARD

© 1993 by the University Press of Kansas All rights reserved Published by the University Press of Kansas (Lawrence, Kansas 66049), which was organized by the Kansas Board of Regents and is operated and funded by Emporia State University, Fort Hays State University, Kansas State University, Pittsburg State University, the University of Kansas, and Wichita State University Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Broussard, Albert S. Black San Francisco : the struggle for racial equality in the West, 1900-1954 / Albert S. Broussard.

p. cm.

Includes index. ISBN 0-7006-0577-0 (hardcover) ISBN 0-7006—0684-X (pbk.) 1. Afro-Americans—California—San Francisco—History—20th

century. 2. San Francisco (Calif.)}—Race Relations. I. Title. F869.S389N424 1993

305.896'073079461'09045—dc20 92-30597 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data is available.

10987654 The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials Z39.48-1984.

To Mary L. Broussard

CONTENTS

Acknowledgments 1x Introduction 1 PART ONE

The Evolution and Shaping of San Francisco's Black Community, 1900-1940 1 The Growth and Development of San Francisco's

Black Community, 1900-19380 11

2 Employment and Enterprise, 1900-1930 38

8 Class, Status, and Social Life 59

4 Protest Organizations, 1915-1930 715 5 Politics, Protest, and Race Relations, 1920—1940 92 6 The Worst of Times: Blacks during the Great

Depression and the New Deal, 1980-1940 113

PART TWO ,

The Great Divide: World War Il and Its Aftermath, 1940-1954

7 The Growth of Black San Francisco, 1940-1945 133 8 World War II, Fair Employment, Discrimination,

and Black Opportunity 1438

9 Wartime Tensions and the Struggle for Housing 166

10 World War II and the New Black Leadership 180

vii CONTENTS 11 The Growth and Flowering of Interracial Organizations 198

12 Postwar Employment: Gains and Losses 205

Notes 247 Index 317 13 The Maturation of Black San Francisco: Housing,

Autonomy, and Politics 221

Epilogue: The Dream and the Reality 239

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

In the course of writing this book I have incurred many debts. My greatest intellectual debts are to the late B. Joyce Ross, who introduced me to Afro-American history as an undergraduate at Stanford University, and to Raymond Gavins, who supervised the Duke University dissertation on which this book is based. Ray Gavins embraced me as a student as well

as a friend and I hope that this book meets his exacting standards. Richard L. Watson, Sidney Nathans, and Peter Decker also helped see the dissertation through to completion and encouraged me to expand the study to cover the postwar years. George C. Wright read every draft and helped to improve this book immeasurably through his incisive comments. The late James de T. Abajian not only shared my zeal in writing this book, but also permitted me to use his personal collection on AfroAmericans in the West. Others who read all or part of the manuscript and offered valuable suggestions were Eugene Berwanger, Robert Calvert, Donald Pisani, Lawrence B. de Graaf, Darlene Clark Hine, August Meier, Steven Channing, Joe William Trotter, Ronald G. Coleman, and Alphine W. Jefferson. Many librarians also contributed to the publication of this book. Esme E. Bhan at the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center was especially helpful in providing me access to material. Irene Moran at the Bancroft Library always answered my inquiries on material regarding blacks in the

West. Ethel Ray Nance at the Afro-American Historical and Cultural Society in San Francisco was especially generous with her time and knowledge about black San Francisco. The staffs of the Library of Congress Manuscripts Division, California Historical Society, San Francisco Public Library's department of Special Collections, and the San Francisco City Archives assisted me at various phases of this study. I am

x ACKNOWLEDGMENTS especially indebted to Cynthia Miller and Susan McRory, my editors at the University Press of Kansas, Carol Estes, whose meticulous copyediting was indispensable, and Daisy Jones, who typed the final version. This study was expedited by a Fellowship for College Teachers, a Sum-

mer Research Stipend, and a Travel to Collections Award from the National Endowment for the Humanities, a Grant-in-Aid from the American Philosophical Society, and a Summer Research Stipend and a MiniGrant from Texas A&M University. Finally, I wish to thank my family for their support during the years that I wrote this book. My mother, Margaret Broussard, has always been a source of strength and inspiration, and the publication of this book is only a small reward for her support. My brothers, Michael and John, and my sister, Sharon, have also waited patiently for this project to reach its final form. My wife, Mary L. Broussard, to whom this book is dedicated,

has served as a catalyst, critic, supporter, and companion. Her inexhaustible patience may be unrivaled. This book could not have been written without her loving support.

BLACK SAN FRANCISCO

maa Toe Ls TTT ig =

Map 1. San Francisco’s Neighborhoods, 1900-1940.

eae mt 3 OQ | O ©8

ee Golden Gate Bridge

i | lt Ny San Francisco— XKBay ¢ Oakland | LA Bridge Vy >

T—swiwanwros | EAD |B *

Ly [TVA LY G® >

w

>