HIUS 161: Essay 1

This week’s readings centered on California before, during, and after World War 2. As the nation shifted towards a total war mindset, major cities like San Francisco, Los Angeles, and soon-to-be San Diego saw a wave of activism, growth, and development. Each of these readings discusses the experiences of Japanese, African, and Mexican Americans, as well as political outcasts such as the Communists. While they were similar in that they faced oppression from the government and society at large, their situations during the pre-war and World War eras were quite distinct.

Scott Kurashige first describes the development of the treatment of Japanese Americans in his book The Shifting Grounds of Race. Initially, the public supported them, but key public figures in the state and national government, including Los Angeles mayor Fletcher Bowron, pushed heavily for internment or deportation, claiming that the Japanese were a security risk to the nation. Despite attempts by the JACL, or Japanese American Citizens League, and its Anti-Axis Committee to comply and show their loyalty to the United States, they were nonetheless profiled as traitorous. This movement demonstrated the underlying racist ideologies prevalent within the United States, as government action discriminated against its own citizens based solely on guilt by association.

At the same time, African Americans were discriminated against within the workforce on the West Coast. Despite the United States government’s need for workers with the war in full swing, as Kurashige details, African American workers were denied certain positions in cities like San Diego and Los Angeles and restricted to others. Organizations like the FEPC (Fair Employment Practices Commission) and the NAACP pushed back, fighting in the courts and through legislation to ensure fair working conditions and rights for African American workers, but their progress was slow, and much of it did not come to fruition until after the war. In A New Federal City, Abraham Shragge further emphasizes the expansion and labor needs that San Diego experienced as a result of the war. The city saw a population boom, with many new jobs and communities, but this expansion still excluded African American workers, who were developing new communities around these major California cities. As these texts show, both the Japanese and African Americans wanted to support the United States in its war effort, but were barred from doing so. Whereas the Japanese faced accusations of espionage and treason, African Americans faced a system that did not allow them to advance economically, creating a deep gap in class and status.

The experiences of the Mexican Americans were much more violent, as they were engaged in direct conflict with the military and soldiers, but once again, on the grounds of race. Prior to and during the Zoot-Suit riots of June 1943, Mexican American men and women found themselves repeatedly in street fights and conflicts with white Navy sailors and soldiers, creating a violent atmosphere in the city of Los Angeles. Once again, political figures like Bowron pushed against these minority groups, falsely drumming up the idea that they were dangerous or part of gangs. As Luis Alvarez explains in The Power of the Zoot (2008), a combination of racial profiling from white soldiers, who attacked any Mexican people in the city regardless of their connection to the Zoot Suit movement, indirect support from the LAPD, and fervor started by racist figures like Bowron and local newspapers, left Los Angeles a dangerous place for Mexican American men and women. Just like with the Japanese, Mexican Americans were profiled as gang members or violent people and found themselves beaten and assaulted for their ethnicity.

This era of discrimination even stretched to political affiliation. In San Francisco Reds (2024), Robert Cherny argues that, similar to the discrimination of Japanese Americans based on the actions of Japan during the war, the Communist Party of the United States in San Francisco dealt with abuse from the United States government, as it feared an increasing wave of communism. Despite the Constitution’s protection for opposing religious or political views, those involved with or in support of the CPUSA found themselves unjustly arrested or harassed by the police and government. The treatment of the CPUSA demonstrates a clear theme centered around the treatment of minority racial and political groups during wartime, as patriotism, tied closely with racial superiority and masculinity, took hold.

Furthermore, these sources create a complete picture of the experiences of minorities in California during the war, painting the violent and discriminatory actions of the United States government that would set a precedent of segregation and racism heading into the 1950s.