STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF MISSOURI RESEARCH CENTER-ST. LOUIS
UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI-ST. LOUIS
s0170 GRANT, LOUISE ELIZABETH, THE SAINT LOUIS UNIT
OF THE MARCH ON WASHINGTON MOVEMENT: A STUDY IN THE SOCIOLOGY OF CONFLICT
s0011 CALLOWAY, ERNEST, PAPERS
Records of the St. Louis March on Washington Movement, which was founded in response
to A. Phillip Randolph's call for a march to end discrimination in defense work. Executive
Order 8802 established the Fair Employment Practices Commission in June 1941. The local
MOWM picketed businesses and industry, staged mass rallies, and succeeded in bringing the
FEPC to St. Louis in August 1944 to hold hearings.
Theodore McNeal became Missouri' s first black senator in 1961. The scrapbooks, however,
document his activities as president of the St. Louis branch of the March on Washington
Movement (MOWM), 1942-1944.
The MOWM began in January 1941 when A. Phillip Randolf, president of the
Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, issued a call for 10,000 blacks to march on
Washington to demand jobs in the defense industry and to end the segregation in the
armed services. Faced with possibly 50,000 blacks marching on Washington, Roosevelt
issued Executive Order 8802, establishing a Fair Employment Practices Commission
(FEPC) in June 1941.
McNeal, an organizer for the St. Louis Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, and
David Grant, an attorney, organized the St. Louis branch of the MOWM in the spring of
1942. In June 400 members "marched" on the U.S. Cartridge plant protesting lack of
training for blacks, lack of jobs for black women, and lack of advancement for black
workers. They marched on Carter Carburetor in August protesting its refusal to hire
blacks. McNeal also organized a rally at Kiel Auditorium in August. Between 9,000 and
10,000 people attended and McNeal, Grant, Randolf and Walter White (president of the
national NAACP) were the principal speakers. The St. Louis MOWM continued to
monitor hiring practices at war contract and defense plants throughout the war.
In 1943 McNeal decided to focus on employment for blacks in St. Louis public
utilities: Union Electric, Laclede Gas, Southwestern Bell, and the St. Louis Public Service
Company. The achieved success with the phone company offices. In the fall of 1943
Southwestern Bell agreed to open an office in a black neighborhood with black employees
and eventual integration of blacks in other offices.
By 1944 the employment situation had improved for black men. Out of 300 defense
related employees in the city, 250 had hired black men, but only 100 employed black
women. David Grant, in hearings before the U.S. Congress, declared that the employment
situation for black women was the worst in the nation. Estimates ranged from 15, 000 to
20, 000 black women available for work, with 10,000 to 12,000 desperately needing work.
McNeal decided to "raise some hell" to get more black women employed. The MOWM
urged women in newspaper ads to apply for defense jobs, document their interviews, and
give the results to the MOWM. After receiving responses from several women the MOWM
asked the FEPC to come to St. Louis and hold hearings. In August, 1944 the FEPC held
hearings in St. Louis. Thirteen women testified against seven war contract plants that did
not hire black women: Amertorp, Wagner Electric, McDonnell Douglas, Bussman
Manufacturing, Carter Carburetor, St. Louis Shipbuilding and Steel Company, and
McQuay Norris Manufacturing. The FEPC opened an office in St. Louis in October 1944
and had one of the heaviest case loads in the nation.
The MOWM supported the efforts of other civil rights groups during the war,
especially in ending Jim Crow segregation in public accommodations. The NAACP and
the Citizens Civil Rights Committee (a group of black and white women) worked to
integrate downtown eating facilities during 1944. McNeal and the NAACP sponsored the
sit-ins of the CCRC at downtown department stores.
By early 1945 the MOWM disbanded and McNeal and Grant continued to work on
civil rights with the NAACP and Urban League. McNeal speculated that the MOWM was
responsible for obtaining 15, 000 jobs for black St. Louisans during World War II.
See also:
T024, T343, Taped Interviews with Theodore McNeal
STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF MISSOURI RESEARCH CENTER-ST. LOUIS
T002, Taped Interview with David Grant
222 THOMAS JEFFERSON LIBRARY
UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI-ST. LOUIS
ONE UNIVERSITY BOULEVARD
ST. LOUIS, MO 63121
(314) 516-5143