During World War II, racism flourished in the United States even as the war effort sought to bring people together.
Romare Bearden, Factory Workers, 1942, gouache and casein on brown Kraft paper mounted on board, 94.93 x 73.03 cm (Minneapolis Institute of Art)
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Dr. Beth Harris: [0:09] We’re here in the Print Study Room at the Minneapolis Institute of Art — MIA. We’re looking at a beautiful gouache by great early 20th century artist Romare Bearden.
Dennis Michael Jon: [0:15] The title of the work is “Factory Workers.” It was commissioned to illustrate an in-depth feature article in “Fortune” magazine on the plight of African Americans in the defense industry.
[0:27] The purpose of the article was threefold — discrimination in hiring and promotion was bad for business, was bad for the war effort, and was bad for society at large.
Dr. Harris: [0:36] The article says “The American Negro is agitated not because he is asked to fight for America, but because full participation in the fight is denied him. He is humiliated as a Negro because he is not fully accepted as an American.” Of course, the term “Negro” not one that we use anymore, but was obviously very much in use in the early 20th century.
[1:03] And another quote, “No serious review of the nation’s status could ever overlook the contradiction between America’s dream and the Negro reality.”
Dennis: [1:11] What we’re seeing are two African American workers who have been denied jobs at a steel factory and trying to decide between themselves what to do next.
Dr. Harris: [1:16] Their mouths are downturned. It looks like a rather bleak landscape behind them, with the factory in the distance. Then this pile of coal with the shed, and that third figure who is somewhat mysterious, a little bit in shadow. We’re not sure if he represents the employer.
Dennis: [1:33] Or it could be a fellow worker who is now looking at a newspaper for additional job prospects.
Dr. Harris: [1:38] We do feel sympathy for these men who are looking for employment and unable to find it because of discrimination.
Dennis: [1:44] The United States Armed Forces are segregated at this time, and much of industry was also segregated. The article came out seven months after Pearl Harbor.
Dr. Harris: [1:53] This is 1942. We’re in the middle of World War II. We’re at the beginning of America’s involvement. The defense industries are gearing up to serve the war effort and hiring millions of workers.
Dennis: [0:00] Bearden was commissioned to do the frontispiece, which is a very prestigious assignment.
Dr. Harris: [2:12] Gouache is a water-based medium, but it’s opaque. It’s not like a watercolor, which can have levels of transparency. This does have the feeling of a monumental, serious work, even though it’s not oil on canvas.
Dennis: [2:21] He’s using these materials for a number of reasons. One reason is metallic pigments were not allowed during war because of the war effort, chromium red comes to mind. He uses earth tones, muted colors. The figures are looking to our right, and the title and introduction to the article would be on the right.
Dr. Harris: [2:38] We think about “Fortune” magazine, and we might think about a publication that is more conservative-leaning, something that is very pro-corporate America. But at this point, Fortune magazine had a more liberal bent.
Dennis: [2:51] “Fortune” magazine had a progressive editorial slant. It was founded by Henry Luce, who also produced “Life” magazine and “Time” magazine. At the time Bearden made this picture, approximately 51 percent of defense industry jobs were not available to Black workers.
Dr. Harris: [3:11] That’s remarkable considering the importance of the war effort, and leaving these jobs unfilled of course damaged that effort.
Dennis: [3:14] President Franklin Roosevelt signed [an] executive order in June 1941 expressly prohibiting racial discrimination in the defense industry and government.
Dr. Harris: [3:23] In response to protests from the African American community about the tremendous discrimination that was taking place.
Dennis: [3:36] We believe that the article in “Fortune” magazine was a direct result of this order and the attention it received both in the press and in the lives of African Americans.
Dr. Harris: [3:41] The law said specifically, “There shall be no discrimination in the employment of workers in defense industries and in government because of race, creed, color, or national origin.” This is the first order by the government about discrimination since the Emancipation Proclamation.
[3:58] We often think about discrimination in the Jim Crow South. We don’t often think about the great extent of it in the North, too, in more industrial cities.
Dennis: [4:06] The Great Migration from the rural and small-town South to industrialized centers and big cities in the North, Romare Bearden was part of that. He was born in North Carolina, was brought to New York City by his parents, both social activists.
[4:19] They invited prestigious writers, musicians, and artists. This was the milieu that Bearden grew up in. He was very familiar with the cultural expression of African American community, African American life, and that was one of his principal goals in his art.
Dr. Harris: [4:35] This was something that was not just happening in Harlem with Black artists, but something that was happening broadly in the beginnings of the 20th century among artists. We can think of the Mexican muralists, for example.
Dennis: [4:47] The Mexican muralists’ social purpose was paramount, and for Bearden as well, social purpose as well as social critique. It wasn’t the only aspect of his art. He was very much interested in modernism.
[5:03] But at this time, 1942, he is coming out of his experience with the Social Realists in the 1930s. Many were involved with the WPA, which was a federal government program to support the livelihood of artists, and he’s influenced by a number of his fellow artists. Jacob Lawrence comes to mind. Ben Shahn was an important Social Realist also working in New York.
[5:18] Social Realism was meant to tell a story, and that’s what Bearden is doing in this picture, “Factory Workers.”
Dr. Harris: [5:23] We’re still really at the beginning of Bearden’s very long and remarkable career when we look at this painting.
Dennis: [5:30] One of the most important modern artists in the United States and certainly one of the most important African American artists as well.
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