“Double V” Campaign on 119th Street in Harlem

A “Double V” campaign celebration in 1942 on 119th Street, between Lenox and 7th (now Malcolm X Blvd and Adam Clayton Powell Blvd) in Harlem. The Double V campaign was started in 1942, just as World War II began, by the Pittsburgh Courier, an historic African-American newspaper. “Double V” stood for “Victory Abroad and Victory at Home” and the purpose was to call continued attention to the legal injustices and segregation that Blacks dealt with as American citizens on American soil and as soldiers abroad within the (segregated) armed forces. To appreciate the role of the Pittsburgh Courier in this campaign, keep in mind that white newspapers did not cover Blacks unless there was a crime involved or, of course, if the Black in question was an athlete or an entertainer. White newspapers did not cover our births, deaths, weddings or any other slice of life-type activity that we did just like everyone else. That is why, in part, Ebony magazine was born. And they certainly did not report on racial discrimination (especially within the military where Black newspapers were banned from its libraries during the Double V Campaign) the way the Black press did.

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