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workers would have to wear an arm badge with a big letter
"N." The Navy rejected an NAACP protest that the "N"
badges were just like "the labels used by the Nazis to
designate Jews. " In May 1941 Chairman Arthur Altmeyer
of the Social Security Board issued an official statement
that the Board would continue to support white
supremacy. (56)
The liberal, pro-imperialist Afrikan leadership
were being pushed to the wall. They had urged Afrikans to
remain loyal to the settler Empire and had increasingly little
to show for it. While they had taken swift advantage of
both repression and the internal contradictions of the nationalist
movement to gain a political predominance over
Afrikan communities, their top position was unsteady.
Many signs indicated that the nationalist political
current was strong on the streets, at the grass-roots of the
Nation. In 1933 the "Jobs For Negroes Movement"
spread from Chicago to Harlem. Surprising as it may
sound today, many of the community's jobs were held by
Euro-Amerikans.* In the retail stores (which were mostly
Euro-Amerikan owned) all the sales clerks, cashiers,
managers and secretaries were Euro-Amerikans. Even
75% of the bartenders in Harlem were settlers. Although
all the customers were Afrikan and the stores were in the
Afrikan community, even the most pathetic white-collar
job was reserved for a Euro-Amerikan only. Particularly
under the grim conditions of the Depression, many in the
community had angrily pointed out this contradiction. (57)
A nationalist campaign sprung up around this
issue in Harlem, led by a "street-corner agitator" named
Sufi Abdul Hamd (sn Eugene Brown). The Sufi was a selftaught
Pan-Afrikanist and a teacher of Eastern mystic
philosophy. In retrospect it may appear unusual that such
a lone political figure could play such an important role,
but this only underscores the tremendous leadership
vacuum that existed. Together with a core of unemployed
college students the Sufi had recruited, he organized the
picketing and illegal boycotts of Harlem stores. The campaign
continued for five years, with merchant after merchant
having to compromise and hire Afrikans.
During these years the "Jobs for Negroes Movement"
was illegal, subjected to court injunctions and arrests,
as well as the opposition of both the liberal Civil
Rights leadership (NAACP, Urban League, Rev. Adam
Clayton Powell, Jr., etc.) and the CIO and CPUSA. (58)
For years only the small, grass-roots nationalist groups
fought for more jobs in a jobless community. While both
the CPUSA and the Harlem churches started "Jobs" committees,
these carefully obeyed the law and did nothing except
try to divert support from the nationalist struggle.
In March 1935 the smoldering anger over the
genocidal pressures squeezing Afrikan life burst out in a
spontaneous uprising. The early "Harlem Riot" saw tens
of thousands of Afrikans taking over the streets for 3 days,
attacking police and liberating the contents of stores. The
liberal, pro-imperialist leadership were helpless and ignored
by the people. Indeed, afterwards the Euro-
*This was before desegregation, while Afrikans still did
their shopping, dining out, etc. in their own
community. 120
Amerikan capitalists and politicians bitterly castigated
their Afrikan allies for having failed to control the masses.
Everyone agreed that the popular response to the nationalists'
"Jobs for Negroes" campaign was an important
factor in the uprising.
The New York Times, in their obituary on Sufi
Abdul Hamd, in 1938, gave hostile acknowldgement*:
"The death of the Sufi ended a career that had affected
Harlem more deeply than that of any other cult
leader ... Sufi put his followers on the picket ling with
placards saying 'Buy Where You Can Work,' in front of
stores whose proprietors he accused of refusing to hire
Negro help. He reached the height of his power in the
Winter of 1934-35 and his picket lines were a sore trial to
Harlem merchants. The tension that resulted from this,
combined with other causes of friction, resulted in the fatal
Harlem race riots of March 1936. " (59)
Imperialism's response was to help their handpicked
Afrikan civil rights leaders take over the issue, with
a big propaganda campaign picturing the liberal integrationists
as the "militant leaders" who had supposedly won
new jobs for jobless Afrikans. In 1938 the U.S. Supreme
Court ruled the "Jobs" boycotts finally legal. At this a
big-name, integrationist coalition took over the "Jobs for
Negroes" struggle in Harlem. The YMCA, the Urban
League, the major Protestant denominations, the CIO, the
CPUSA all joined to support the new leadership of the
Rev. Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. over the campaign. (60)
Newspaper headlines and joyous victory celebrations
greeted the wave of unprecedented agreements between
Powell's coalition and business. It appeared as though proimperialist
integrationism was the key to bringing
economic improvement to Harlem.
What was absolutely true was that while concessions
were gained, Afrikans were being fronted off. An example
was the "historic" 1938 pact between Powell's
coalition and the Uptown Chamber of Commerce, which
was hailed in newspaper headlines. "Harlem Compact
Gives Negroes Third of Jobs in Stores There." But in the
fine print there were no specific number of jobs promised.
In return for agreeing to end all protests and boycotts, the
coalition got a promise that Afrikans would eventually be
hired for only one-third of the clerical jobs only in the
Harlem stores - and even there only as replacements
whenever Euro-Amerikan employees quit.
In a joint statement, Rev. Powell and Col. Philipp
of the Chamber of Commerce said. "The settlement reached
today is historic. It is the first agreement of its
kind ... and will help quiet unrest in Harlem because it is
*It's interesting that virtually all histories that mention the
"Jobs" Movement credit its leadership solely to Rev.
Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., who for it first five years was a
vocal opponent of its illegal boycotts. The nationalist role
is never mentioned. This is even true of most historical accounts
written by Afrikans (the contemporary account by
Claude McKay is a notable exception). As late as 1941 the
nationalists were still the cutting edge of the struggle.