{"id":2750,"date":"2014-10-15T14:48:58","date_gmt":"2014-10-15T18:48:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/preserving\/?p=2750"},"modified":"2015-01-14T09:30:36","modified_gmt":"2015-01-14T14:30:36","slug":"chandler-owen-and-african-americans-in-wwii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/preserving\/2014\/10\/15\/chandler-owen-and-african-americans-in-wwii\/","title":{"rendered":"Chandler Owen and African Americans in WWII"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Chandler Owen (1889-1967) was a prolific writer, editor, and early activist for African-American Civil Rights.\u00a0In 1916, he joined the Socialist Party of America and became a follower of the Harlem\u00a0activist, Hubert H. Harrison. In 1917, Owen founded\u00a0a\u00a0socialist journal,\u00a0the Messenger<\/em>, where he published\u00a0political and social commentary, promoted\u00a0unionism, and literature of the New Negro Movement<\/em>. The journal was both progressive and radical, taking the stance that\u00a0African Americans should not fight in WWI for a “so-called” democracy of\u00a0Europe while still being\u00a0denied equality in their own homeland.\u00a0Owen was\u00a0arrested under the Espionage Act for his incendiary comments in the journal. The Messenger<\/em> folded in 1928 and Owen became disenchanted with socialism. He eventually\u00a0joined the Republican Party\u00a0believing it\u00a0would provide the best\u00a0forum for increasing political rights and equality\u00a0for blacks. By the mid-1920s Owen had become a speechwriter for local Republican candidates. Though he was no fan of President Roosevelt’s policies toward African Americans, Owen worked for the Allied war effort in WWII. He took a job with the U.S. Office of Information, a government propaganda bureau, and wrote\u00a0Negroes and the War<\/i>, a booklet that presented arguments in favor of black support of the war effort. Owen\u00a0saw this<\/strong> world war as a true threat to democracy, especially toward\u00a0African American aspirations\u00a0for progress and equality. The US government wanted the support of blacks in the war effort,\u00a0and while Owen’s political leanings and activism were controversial, his credibility with\u00a0the minority population was viewed as an acceptable compromise.\u00a0OWI published and distributed 2.5 million copies of Negroes and the War<\/em>. Heavily illustrated to demonstrate the roles of blacks in the war, the pamphlet also featured imagery of\u00a0growing opportunities and achievements of blacks in American society, such as professional work, education, religion, athletics, and entertainment.<\/p>\n

“Some Negro Americans say that it makes no\u00a0<\/span><\/em>
difference who wins this war”. They say that\u00a0<\/span><\/em>
things could not be any worse under Hitler.<\/span><\/em>
These are the people who emphasize liabilities;\u00a0<\/span><\/em>
they never appraise their assets. They magnify\u00a0<\/span><\/em>
the bad. They minimize the good.\u00a0<\/span><\/em>
Without underestimating the Negro’s liabilities<\/span><\/em>
without denying the fact of handicaps and\u00a0<\/span><\/em>
inequalities, I want to set down just what stake\u00a0<\/span><\/em>
the Negro has in America\u2014just what he has to lose under Hitler.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

-Owen Chandler<\/p>\n

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Howard University<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

The legendary Tuskegee Airmen<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Joe Louis enlisted as a private in the army and became a recruitment icon<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
Description:<\/dt>\n
Owen, Chandler. Negroes and the war. [Washington, D.C. : U.S. Office of War Information, 1942].<\/span><\/dd>\n
Persistent Link:<\/dt>\n
http:\/\/nrs.harvard.edu\/urn-3:FHCL:9050591<\/a><\/dd>\n
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Repository:<\/dt>\n
Widener Library<\/dd>\n
Institution:<\/dt>\n
Harvard University<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chandler Owen (1889-1967) was a prolific writer, editor, and early activist for African-American Civil Rights.\u00a0In 1916, he joined the Socialist Party of America and became a follower of the Harlem\u00a0activist, Hubert H. Harrison. In 1917, Owen founded\u00a0a\u00a0socialist journal,\u00a0the Messenger, where he published\u00a0political and social commentary, promoted\u00a0unionism, and literature of the New Negro Movement. The journal […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2559,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2750","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/preserving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2750","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/preserving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/preserving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/preserving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2559"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/preserving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2750"}],"version-history":[{"count":26,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/preserving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2750\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3001,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/preserving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2750\/revisions\/3001"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/preserving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/preserving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/preserving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}