In January of 1942, James G. Thompson, a 26-year-old Black man from Wichita, Kansas, wrote a letter to the editor of The Pittsburgh Courier, the nation’s largest Black newspaper, asking the questions that were on the minds of many men preparing for possible duty in a segregated military.
“Should I sacrifice my life to live half American?” he asked. “Will things be better for the next generation in the peace to follow? Would it be demanding too much to demand full citizenship rights in exchange for the sacrificing of my life? Is the kind of America I know worth defending?”
Playing off the “V for victory” slogan adopted by the Allies, Thompson asked Black Americans to embrace the idea of a “double victory”— to fight not just against fascism abroad but also racism at home. His letter elicited such a strong reaction from readers that The Courier launched a “Double V” campaign to help galvanize the struggle for equality. “Double V” became a rallying cry for Black Americans, even as some whites — including FBI director J. Edgar Hoover — declared it radical and seditious, a gift to enemy propagandists.
