New York State War Council Committee on Discrimination in Employment Minutes and Investigations Files

Organized into 3 subseries: Subseries 1, Minutes and Organization File, 1941-1944, 1.5 cubic feet; Subseries 2, Complaint Investigation File, 1941-1945, 4.75 cubic feet; Subseries 3, Investigation Leads File, 1942-1944, 1.25 cubic feet.

Subseries 1, Minutes and Organization File: Minutes are in chronological order, followed by the organization files which have no apparent order.

Subseries 2 and Subseries 3: Both are arranged alphabetically.

Governor Herbert H. Lehman appointed a Committee on Discrimination in Employment in March 1941 as part of the New York State Council of Defense for the purpose of encouraging complete utilization in defense work of all individuals without consideration of race, color, creed, or national origin.

The committee, chaired by the Industrial Commissioner, consisted of twenty-seven members, appointed by the governor, representing industrial, labor, civic, and racial organizations. Freida S. Miller was the first chairperson of the committee; later Alvin Johnson held that position.

The committee conducted investigations in 1942 of public and private defense training schools, employment agencies, and labor unions to determine whether they pursued discriminatory labor policies and to take appropriate action to eliminate undesirable practices. The committee appointed Labor Discrimination Representatives who were trained to approach war employers, workers, and community agencies if state labor policies were not followed. Governor Thomas E. Dewey reorganized the committee in 1943 to undertake more intensive and continuous work in the elimination of economic and social discrimination and to develop greater unity in the war effort. The committee obtained data on the number of members of minority groups employed in the plants visited, and obtained statistical information on the mental, manual, and physical exams given to employees before or after hiring.

The committee proposed legislation in 1944 to establish a permanent commission to enforce the right of employment, regardless of race, creed, color, national origin or ancestry, and to investigate the various problems of discrimination, but initially their proposal was turned down. Under the influence of Governor Thomas E. Dewey, a State Commission against Discrimination was established by law in 1945 (Chapter 118) consisting of five members appointed by the governor, empowered to take proper action against discrimination in employment. It replaced the War Council's Committee.

For more information on the Committee, see Karl D. Hartzell's The Empire State at War, pages 67-69.

The series contains minutes, correspondence, reports, memoranda, newspaper clippings, press releases, pamphlets, and a procedures manual for field workers (Labor Discrimination Representatives), all of which reveal the committee's efforts to discourage discrimination and promote fair employment practices.

Subseries 1, Minutes and Organization Files, documents the organizational structure and operations of the committee. The earliest minutes discuss the committee's organization, its procedures, and the types of discrimination it wished to address. Also found are agendas, resolutions, and sometimes discussion of specific complaints. Quarterly reports recite the number of investigations, their results, court decisions which aided the committee's work, and details of some cases. Information on committee members and special meetings is found, in addition to letters solicited from businessmen, government officials, and civic organizations on the ill-effects of discrimination.

Subseries 2, Complaint Investigation File, contains reports of the committee's work, including final disposition reports of complaints and their rectification, and reports of defense industry investigations conducted in various cities. These were compiled as part of the committee's work in investigating discrimination. Work force composition, production levels, and geographic areas in which a company recruited its labor were all examined by the committee. In addition, reports of statistical surveys reveal the number of Jewish and black persons living in New York City's various municipalities. Information from other states and non-New York State cities on their anti-discrimination activities are within these files, as well as information on Japanese-American internment camps and the federal government's Committee on Fair Employment Practice.

Daily report sheets found in Subseries 2 detail complaints of discrimination made against various businesses and individuals. These report forms were used as the basis for the committee's investigations and list the name of the complainant, the alleged discrimination and the establishment where it occurred. A more detailed complaint form lists this information in addition to: address and phone number of complainant; age; place of birth; number of years as a citizen of the United States, if at all; draft classification; years residency in New York; training and experience in defense jobs; the accused establishment's address; its general manager or personnel director; items manufactured at the plant; type of discrimination charged; and an opinion by the committee on the complaint's validity and seriousness.

Most complaints were made by black, Jewish, or foreign-born persons.

Subseries 3, Investigation Leads File, contains correspondence and other materials from various minority organizations such as the Anti-defamation League and the Urban League which provided the committee with information on discriminatory incidents within the defense industry. These were compiled to assist the committee's work in investigating discrimination.

Microfilm is available for use at the New York State Archives or through interlibrary loan.

High resolution images of selected original documents in this series are available in State Archives Digital Collections.

Microfilm roll list is available at the repository.

There are no restrictions regarding access to or use of this material.