The Homefront
During the war, African Americans flocked to the cities to work in munitions factories. In 1910, 73% of black Americans lived in rural areas, in 1940 the number had decreased to 51%, in 1950 the number had decreased to 38% and by 1960 on 27% of African Americans lived in urban areas. Though circumstances were in many ways worse in the cities with unsatisfactory housing, poor sanitation, and low wages, most African Americans felt freed from the bondage of sharecropping. In urban areas, black ghettos provided a sense of security. They watched out for each other’s children, they attended all black churches, schools, social groups, and and patronized black-owned shops. Some urban areas even had their own black newspapers.
Segregation remained entrenched in transportation. Before the war, mass transportation was utilized primarily by the less affluent, i.e., African Americans. With gasoline rationing necessitated by the war, mass transportation was now utilized by virtually all urban dwellers. On board, the driver was an autocrat making and enforcing rules at whim. Birmingham, Alabama alone reported 55 cases of defiance by black patrons refusing to cooperate with bus drivers. In Mobile, one bus driver even shot a black soldier for sitting in the white section of the bus.
