Fair Employment Practice Committee (FEPC), circa 1941-1965
Biographical / Historical
The Fair Employment Practice Committee (FEPC), also known as the President's Committee on Fair Employment Practice, was created by U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1941 by executive order to eliminate employment discrimination based on race, religion, or national origin among manufacturers receiving federal contracts during World War II. The committee held public hearings around the country and took testimony from employers, unions, and workers, to review complaints about discriminatory practices at specific firms. The FEPC represents the first attempt to confront employment discrimination by the federal government. Because it was explicitly a wartime program, it expired at the conclusion of World War II. Organizers advocated at the local, state, and national level for permanent fair employment practice laws.
Scope and Contents
Materials relate to the work of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Committee on Fair Employment Practice, more commonly known as the FEPC, "appointed to handle the delicate problem of color and race discrimination." Material includes coverage of hearings held around the country concerning race-based discrimination in specific companies with government contracts during WWII. Documentation includes transcripts, written testimony, reporter's notes, photographs, correspondence, memos, and articles produced by reporters attending the hearings. Includes detailed coverage of hearings in Birmingham, Alabama; Chicago, Illinois; St. Louis, MO; New York, NY; Cleveland, OH; Philadelphia, PA, and on the west coast in Los Angeles, CA and Portland, OR. A significant portion of documentation relates to a suit brought by railroad workers against multiple rail companies and against unions whose hiring policies were also discriminatory, the complexity of which triggered a revision of the original executive order and a reorganization of the committee. Hearings for the railroad cases were held in Washington, D.C. in 1943. Documentation is also found related to efforts to enact permanent fair employment laws after WWII, when the Federal executive order expired, at the local, state, and federal levels.
Extent
117 folders
15 legal-size folders
Dates
- Creation: circa 1941-1965
Condition Note
Access to some original materials in this series may be limited due to brittleness and fragility of some documents. See individual folder notes for details.
Legacy Description
Subject headings: United States. Committee on Fair Employment Practice. Discrimination in employment -- United States. African Americans -- Employment. Civil Rights -- United States.
Arrangement
Detailed documentation of the committee's hearings is arranged geographically by state, with hearings in California and Oregon filed under the heading "West Coast Cases." Files concerning Railroad Cases, which addressed practices across the country, are arranged under the heading "Railroad cases." Material documenting advocacy for ongoing fair employment laws post-WWII is arranged geographically for state and municipal efforts, or under the heading "National Council for a Permanent FEPC."
Processing Information
Files on the Fair Employment Practice Commission have been processed using detailed processing techniques. This means that each folder has been described with document types and inclusive dates. Folder headings have been verified against content, and in some cases, content has been arranged in more detail and assigned new subheadings to facilitate access.
Original Location
HL0201, HAL 012; ML1902, MAR 342; WY0102, GFF 001; WY0701, GFE 007; WY0801, GFE 009A
Repository Details
Part of the AFRO American Newspapers Archives Repository