was transformed into a project
involving scores of organizers all across the country, all of whom were
working diligently to enlist potential marchers. In the meantime,
Randolph began to formulate the complex plans for organizing the actual
march. By late spring, skepticism had turned to worry. Many government
leaders and finally President Roosevelt himself tried to talk Randolph
into canceling the march. They suggested that such an aggressive protest
would do more to hurt the Afro-American than help him.

Randolph remained unyielding. Others tried to suggest that the protest
would be bad for the American image and therefore was unpatriotic. When
they suggested that it would create a bad impression in Rome and Berlin,
Afro-Americans retorted that white racism had already created such an
image. Finally, Roosevelt contacted Randolph and offered to issue an
executive order barring discrimination in defense industries and promised
to put "teeth" in the order, provided Randolph call off the march. When
Randolph became convinced that Roosevelt's intentions were sincere, he
complied.

Roosevelt fulfilled his promise by issuing Executive Order 8802, which
condemned discrimination on the grounds of race, color, or creed. Then,
he established the Fair Employment Practices Commission and assigned to
it the responsibility for enforcing the order. Many Afro-Americans felt
that Executive Order 8802 was the most important government document
concerning the Negro to be issued since the Emancipation Proclamation.
Their immediate joy was somewhat dampened when they found that
discrimination still continued in some quarters. Nevertheless, the
F.E.P.C. did condemn discrimination when it found it, and, as the result,
many new jobs began to open up for Negroes.

Once America was drawn into the fighting, Afro-Americans hurried to the
enlistment centers to volunteer their services in the war against
Hitler's philosophy. However, it soon became clear that America intended
to fight racism with a segregated army. The fact that Negroes were
confined to the more menial positions in the armed forces was what
irritated Afro-Americans the most. The Negro army units were obviously
going to be led by white officers. The Marine Corps was still not
accepting any Negroes in its ranks at all. Complaints again began to pour
into Washington.

Afro-Americans generally admitted that the Selective Service Act per se
was not discriminatory and that it was