A
“Double V” campaign celebration in 1942 on 119th Street, between Lenox
and 7th (now Malcolm X Blvd and Adam Clayton Powell Blvd) in Harlem.
The
Double V campaign was started in 1942, just as World War II began, by
the Pittsburgh Courier, an historic African-American newspaper.
“Double
V” stood for “Victory Abroad and Victory at Home” and the purpose was to
call continued attention to the legal injustices and segregation that
Blacks dealt with as American citizens on American soil and as soldiers
abroad within the (segregated) armed forces. To appreciate the role of
the Pittsburgh Courier in this campaign, keep in mind that White
newspapers did not cover Blacks unless there was a crime involved or if the person in question was an athlete or an entertainer.
White newspapers did not cover Black births, deaths, weddings or any other
slice of life activity (that
is why, in part, Ebony magazine was born). And White newspapers certainly did not
report on racial discrimination especially within the military where
Black newspapers were banned from its libraries during the Double V
Campaign, the way Black press did.
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