The Double V Campaign: An Echo of Fredrick Douglass

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This Saturday, I spent my day in the library studying for my mid-terms next week. I primarily focused on the material for my US History course as it will be my hardest exam out of all my classes. When I was writing flashcards for all of the key historical terms we learned, I noticed that one term in particular caught my eye. 

The image above is the logo for the Double V Campaign that emerged during World War II. The Double V Campaign was the slogan used by the Pittsburgh Courier to advocate for a "double victory" in the fight against fascism abroad and racism abroad. This movement was created by African Americans to expose the hypocrisy of America's involvement in WWII. They argued that America cannot fight for freedom and liberty abroad, while African Americans continue to treated unjustly and deprived their rights within the nation. Although blacks would fight bravely and selflessly serve in America's fight against fascism, they would come home and be discriminated against by white citizens. Their service in the war did not stop white people from looking down upon them and committing acts of racism toward them.  The Double V Campaign epitomized the African American view of WWII and helped galvanize the Civil Rights Movement. 

When I was refreshing my memory on the Double V Campaign, I saw a direct connect to Fredrick Douglass' speech "What to the Slave." This speech was delivered by Fredrick Douglass on July 5, 1852 to the Ladies of Rochester Anti-Slavery Sewing Society. In the speech, he exposes the irony behind the holiday of 4th of July. Douglass argues that while the nation on this day proclaims its independence from oppression and tyranny, African American slaves continue to live in bondage and are deprived of their very own independence. He articulates this to his audience by asking, "What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer; a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is a constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham.”

When I was studying, I could not help but hear Fredrick Douglass’ voice in the people involved in the Double V Campaign during World War II. Although slavery was abolished after the ratification of the 13th Amendment in 1865, Fredrick Douglass’ idea that American is restricting African American’s from the Declaration of Independence’s “saving principles” continued to live with the establishment of the Double V Campaign.

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