Throughout American history, blacks have been limited to leftover jobs that paid less and were harder work than jobs held by white men. Although blacks are a vital part of the country's work force, they have been discriminated against in the workplace. Even labor unions would not accept them until the 1930s. Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man clearly delineates the struggle of African Americans for job equality.
During World War II, black participation in the labor force increased rapidly. They began to move from traditional occupational categories into departments heretofore reserved for white men. The upgrading of black workers came as part of a larger program of aggressive civil rights actions that had begun to sweep the northern black community in the late 1930s and early 1940s. Blacks encountered resistance as they sought to move into white jobs. The opposition came from many workers and a policy of continued segregation from key employers of companies. Although the UAW was committed to interracial solidarity at the leadership level, seniority rules and informal agreements caused discrimination against black workers at the local level.
Ellison creates a parallel to this fact in Invisible Man when IMan looks for work at Liberty Paints. His new boss, Kimbro, bitterly remarks that the leaders of the company are causing a "new racket." He says to IMan, "'Oh, you know. The wise guys firing the regular guys and putting on you colored college boys. Pretty smart...that way they don't have to pay union wages'" (197). Blacks were often not accepted into unions, so employers were freed from the responsibility of paying union wages by hiring African Americans.
This favoritism caused unrest among whites. Because of their fear of losing job security, white workers began to quit work to protest the black integration of previously segregated departments. These "hate strikes" were sometimes condoned or led by local union officials and provoked by the belief that "factory managers would use the influx of black workers to erode work standards and lessen their job security" (Lichtenstein 125). In response to these strikes, company owners would hire replacement workers called "scabs."
Once again, Ellison portrays this part of the nation's history when Kimbro tells IMan that the people in the office are "'the ones who make scabs out of you'"(Ellison 197).
Eventually, however, increasingly firm opposition from the UAW and government officials encouraged such racially motivated strikes to subside.
Ellison does not mention in Invisible Man all the efforts made to halt discrimination. In 1942 and 1943, interracial conflict peaked when an effort by black UAW leaders, the local NAACP, and liberals in the federal bureaucracy pushed the implementation of President Roosevelt's 1941 executive order banning discrimination in defense industries. This effort was backed by thousands of blacks participating in strikes and protest demonstrations. Twelve thousand Ford automobile workers walked off the job in 1943 to demand that more blacks be hired or transferred to the corporation's wartime facility.
Communism began to alarm the people of the United States after the World War II. Communist groups filled American cities and tried to recruit as many people as possible. Like the Brotherhood in Invisible Man, Communists viewed African Americans as highly desirable members, and they were heavily recruited. Not only did they believe that minority members could be the voice of their people, but they also hoped to unite the members of different racial groups within the party. Brother Jack treats Iman like a commodity, and the Brotherhood decides that he is to be their new messiah. When the drunk man who is under the assumption that all blacks are excellent singers wants him to sing, IMan dismisses the "racial chauvinism" by making jokes about his own roots. He does this because he wants to live up to the Brotherhood's expectations for him to bring white and black together.
Just as IMan eventually rejects the Brotherhood, the CIO did not accept Communism. Some members of the CIO feared Communist influence, so they expelled eleven unions on the grounds of "dual unionism," a term meaning these unions were being used by their leaders to further the interests of Communism.
Blacks made advances in the job world in the middle of the twentieth century. As they battled to gain equality, they were both helped by union leaders and suppressed by employers. Striking and protesting assisted in the battle for justice, but a state of racial serenity is yet to be established. The progress that civil rights activists strove for proved to be as futile as IMan's own advances in his career. In the end, he realizes that all of his work and personal gain means very little because of his state of invisibility. In the same way that the Battle Royal scene at the beginning of the novel is mirrored at the end by the riot, history continues to repeat itself. No matter how furiously people attempt to improve the state of society, humans will always be evil in nature.
by Kari Jenkins