Yes, the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters that Asa Philip Randolph led was successful because aside from bringing awareness to the deceitful nature of blacks holding the occupation of car porters, the resulting struggles gained black labor unions federal rights. First, the African American populace considered car porters the elite individuals of the communities because they apparently had “steady jobs and traveled around the country” (Wormser, 2002, par. 2). Contrastingly, as the organization asserted, the occupation merely reverted blacks to the status of slaves meant to serve the Caucasians. After all, car porters earned meager wages for very hard work and their employers at Pullman Company denied them any securities while forcing them to purchase food and uniforms from their salaries. Additionally, the efforts of the Brotherhood of Car Porters played a role in the passing of laws to protect the rights of “legitimate unions” by Congress (Wormser, 2002, par. 3). In other words, organizations manned by persons of African descent were finally legal and could exercise the law under the federal government.
No, the domestic programs established under the New Deal did not benefit African Americans because of the Southern Veto. Southern politician molded the terms of the New Deal welfare state to fit the white Americans only and exclude people of color. For instance, the Social Security law “excluded agricultural and domestic workers” yet most blacks predominantly occupied the two positions (Foner, 2013, p.661). In that sense, blacks in the United States labor system were ineligible for the pension and compensation schemes available under the New Deal.
During the Second World War, racism gained more prominence in the United States as the white population protested the involvement of African Americans in all spheres of society. In the medical field, doctors separated and issued blood from white and black donors based on race (Foner, 2013, p.695). Apparently, just as a white soldier could not receive blood from a black individual, blacks were unworthy of the former’s blood. Meanwhile, once enlisted, black troops served as “waiters and cooks” and other non-combat tasks while their white counterparts engaged the enemy at the frontlines (Foner, 2013, p.695). Evidently, even in the middle of skirmishes, white supremacy prevailed at the expense of the inferior black people.
References
Foner, E. (2013). Give Me Liberty!: An American History (4th ed., Vol. II). New York: W. W. Norton & Company.
Wormser, R. (2002). Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. Retrieved from The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS): http://www.pbs.org/wnet/jimcrow/stories_org_brother.html
