Discrimination Survey, 1941

This series documents the racial discrimination survey conducted by the AFL in 1941. Contacted in the survey were city central bodies, federal labor unions and national and international unions. Survey questions pertained to the status of blacks in the union affiliate that was surveyed. The survey stemmed from public criticism by the National Urban League that African Americans were not being hired in the defense industry.

The series consists of returned questionnaires sometimes accompanied by letters that further explain the returned information. The questionnaires originated from the Office of the President, were returned to that office and subsequently transferred to Florence Thorne, Director of Research. Folder 1 of box 9 contains summary material of the international portion of the survey; folders 2-4 contain the returned questionnaires themselves. Folder 5 contains general information on the matter of African American workers, including a letter to William Green as editor of the American Federationist from Eugene Kinckle Jones, Executive Secretary of the National Urban League, informing Green of the situation of American black workers in the defense industry.