Memorandum on the Brecon Bag Loading Plant, Flora, Mississippi

After studying records on the case of the Brecon Bagloading Company in Flora, Mississippi, I have come to the conclusion that it is desirable to certify the Company to the President’s Committee on Fair Employment Practice. This firm’s complete disregard of all of the regulations governing fair employment makes it desirable that some action be taken very speedily.¹ The following is a summary of our contacts:

February 25, 1942

On this date Mr. Cy W. Record, [WPB] field representative in Region 7, stated that the town of Flora is located in the southwest corner of Madison County, 21 miles north of Jackson, Mississippi, the State’s capital. Prior to the announcement that the ordnance plant would be constructed, the population was approximately 500 people. Since that time (summer of 1941) the population has more than doubled.

Canton, Mississippi, is the largest city in Madison County and also the county seat. Canton is 19 miles east of Flora and 25 miles north east of Jackson.

The workers to be employed in the Plant are expected to be drawn from the counties of Madison, Yazoo, Hinds, and Rankin. It is estimated that the total population of the commuting areas and the area from which the local labor supply could be drawn is 225,000. The breakdown of these population figures shows that approximately 60 per cent of the inhabitants are rural; 55 per cent of the number, or more than 115,000 are Negroes.

February 27, 1942

Mr. W. O’Neill, President of the General Tire and Engineering Company, in Akron, Ohio, which is operating the ordnance plant at Flora, was advised that our office had information to the effect that Negro women would be used as maids and custodial workers only. This advice was sent in a letter signed by Mr. Sidney Hillman. Mr. C. F. Burke replied to Mr. Hillman’s letter and stated that in the absence of Mr. O’Neill he was acknowledging the communication. Mr. Burke also stated that he was forwarding the information contained in Mr. Hillman’s letter to Mr. A. C. Bowers, Works Manager at the Mississippi Ordnance Plant.

March 17, 1942

Mr. Burke again wrote Mr. Hillman stating that he had received a letter from Mr. Bowers in which the latter had stated that after a lengthy conference with a Miss Elsie Wolfe from the Women’s Bureau of the Department of Labor:

“It appears that they agreed on the point that the local Southern Negro women are not suited for the type of operations in the bag loading plant for work requiring the skill and accuracy needed in such an operation.”

Mr. Burke’s letter indicated that Mr. Bowers would use Negro women in “miscellaneous places where their ability is adaptable to the requirements of the job such as in the laundry, for janitor work, etc.” The Company stated that approximately 25 percent colored employees would be used when the plant reaches its maximum capacity but the men would be confined to track workers, road workers, freight handlers, yard workers, and truckers.

March 25, 1942

The Chief of the Negro Employment and Training Branch [Weaver] communicated with Miss Mary Anderson, Director of the Women’s Bureau, U.S. Department of Labor. He informed Miss Anderson that Miss Wolfe was alleged to have agreed with Mr. Bowers on the exclusion of colored women from production operations at the plant on the basis of their not being qualified.

March 31, 1942

Miss Anderson replied to Dr. Weaver, stating that, “In a telegram Miss Wolfe says that she agreed with the plant manager that white and colored women could not work together on production in Mississippi. Her statement, she said, was from the production standpoint only. I fear they jockeyed her into making such a statement.”

Miss Anderson indicated that she would write a letter to Mr. Burke telling him that Miss Wolfe’s statement is contrary to the policy of the Women’s Bureau. A copy of her letter to him on this subject was attached. 

April 1, 1942

Mr. Record again talked with Mr. A. C. Bowers, and the following is an official version of the conversation:

“Mr. A. C. Bowers has stated flatly and without reservation that no Negroes will be employed in production jobs—unless it is absolutely necessary—that is, unless the total white labor supply is completely exhausted and none other than Negro workers are available for jobs. He has stated further that on the first shift he will have available enough white men and women to fill his needs, and that he expects sufficient white workers for any additional shifts that may be added as receipt of powder available for loading increases.

“Negroes will be employed—but only in such jobs as janitors, yard workers, freight loaders, truck drivers and maintenance workers. These jobs will be filled by Negro men, and Negro women will find employment only as maids and helpers in the cafeterias.

“It is quite apparent that these practices are discriminatory, especially if we take into account the fact that there is available in and around Jackson thousands of Negro men and women, many of whom on the basis of their education and experience and [a] little training could well qualify for production jobs. 

“The policies now being carried out appear in bold contrast to the policies which Negro people in and around Jackson had been led to expect. It had been reported earlier that Negro women were to be employed in production jobs, and the general impression seems to have been that a majority of the workers in the plant would be Negro———Inquiring into the causes of such a change in policy, if any change has been made, indicates that there are certain local pressures being applied to the officials of the company to discourage the employment of Negroes, particularly of Negro women. Among these pressures are:

1. Middle-class white women in and around Jackson who wish to keep Negro women in their employment as maids and cooks at the rate of from $2 to $3 a week.

2. Farmers and plantation owners in the surrounding areas who wish to have available a supply of cheap day-wage farm labor, and who want to keep in effect the present $1–$1.50 a day wage scale for day laborers.

3. The local Chamber of Commerce that has been very insistent on the employment of white women living in and around Jackson.”

April 8, 1942

A meeting of colored citizens in the areas from which the bag loading plant draws its personnel vigorously protested the Company’s action in barring Negroes from production jobs. Mr. Record states that approximately 500 persons were present at the meeting, and all of them were anxious to have the conditions at the bag loading plant corrected.

Some of the leading colored citizens with whom Mr. Record has been in contact are:

Dr. S. D. Redmond—representing the N. A. A. C. P.
Mr. T. B. Willson—representing the Men’s Civic League
Mr. William Martin—representing the “Jackson Advocate”
Rev. W. W. Blackburn—Jackson College
Mr. Joe Louis—President—Plasterers and Cement Finishers Union, Jackson
Mr. Monroe Travillian—Financial Secretary, Plasterers and Cement Finishers Union