93. Memorandum From USIA Public Affairs Officer William Gordon to the Assistant Director, Africa, United States Information Agency (Roberts)1
SUBJECT
- Materials for Photo Display
The generally accepted concept abroad is that America is a mixed fabric from which is woven every racial, national and ethnic group. Our population is a pattern cut from all populations of the world.
In light of this people abroad, Africans, Asians and Europeans think of us as an integrated America.
The idea for this memo grew out of a discussion involving a research project assigned to me on photo material for picture display purposes. Initially, I took the assignment to be an easy task, thinking that the availability of materials were numerous in our library. This was quite to the contrary. There exists a limit on almost every type of photograph reflecting the real theme of an integrated American life.
In the area of agriculture, it was difficult to find photos of American whites and Negroes working together. The same was true in industry, religion and social life in general. In science there were also limitations. In music, most groups were segregated photos with minor exceptions here and there where one or two Negroes appeared in isolated groups. But there is room for optimism.
The fact that a large segment of American life still remains segregated is not the real story. There are segments of progress with a completely different economic educational and social outlook. There are vast areas of intergradation in the United States and we can utilize materials from those to tell our story abroad. The following are a few examples:
Although many peoples abroad don’t understand the institution of American baseball, they can appreciate seeing the number of Negro [Page 247] and Cuban players taking part in this form of recreation. They can also appreciate the picture of whites and Negroes in basketball, tennis, track and boxing.
In order to bring the picture more up to date which will obviously reflect a different image, one can visit the Lockheed aircraft plant in Atlanta, Georgia where whites and Negroes work side by side on a professional level. In recent months, lunch counters have been integrated in the South. There are schools and institutions, all over the country presenting an excellent picture of whites and Negroes in an integrated situation. I understand that the Department of Justice has increased its Negro legal staff far in excess of what it was two years ago. There is the vast Post Office operation with thousands of Negroes working with whites on all levels of employment. This picture also reflects itself in the industrial life of our country. Beverage firms, cigarette, U.S. steel, Ford and General Motors all have increased the numbers of their Negro employees on a representative basis within the past five years. Such photos reflecting an integrated America can be obtained by establishing contact with the various public relations people working for these industries.
It was interesting to watch the number of African and European children standing and pointing with pride at a picture of Floyd Patterson, heavyweight champion, on a wall in Nigeria. With equal interest Africans and Europeans flocked to see Louis Armstrong and his musicians, white and Negro play at concerts throughout West Africa. But there were some reservations and a number of questions from Africans, Europeans and Asians about the appearance of Holiday on Ice when it arrived in West Africa. They wanted to know why no blacks were included. The African press dealt with this at some length.
In one of our own USIS films, “Pilgrimage to Liberty”, Africans, Asians and Europeans questioned the absence of American Indians and Negroes.
“If you contend that a large portion of your population is Negro, why don’t we see them in these films?”, a prominent European asked after seeing “Pilgrimage to Liberty.”
I recall hearing comments from the integration display we had at the World’s Fair in Brussels in 1958.2 The photos, news clippings and materials reflecting to some extent the picture of integration in the United States were acceptable. However, many people at the Fair asked my wife and I why a more substantial part of an integrated America did not appear on the films shown on life in the U.S. Questions are still asked about private productions, documentary films sent overseas. Criticisms over this kind of content is increasing. A suggestion is that [Page 248] we should search for better examples of an integrated America to tell our story abroad. Fortunately, there are many examples around, and they are on a steady increase.
- Source: National Archives, RG 306, Policy Guidance Files, 1953–1969, Entry UD WW 266, Box 315, Civil Rights & Race Relations (to 1966). No classification marking. Roberts sent the memorandum to Sorensen under an undated note in which he commented that IAA had utilized Gordon, “our hotshot Branch PAO Eastern Nigeria,” to research the feasibility of “some displays or exhibits on integrated racial themes.” Roberts and others had assumed that a “wealth of material” existed in USIA on this topic; he concluded that, based on Gordon’s memorandum, this was an erroneous assumption. He continued: “We have been concerned that a lot of basic agency material does not reflect even what we feel other areas would consider the desired amount of attention to portraying progress on the integration front.” Sorensen wrote: “WG I agree. Pls talk to Ned [Roberts] & let’s see what we should do. –TCS.” (Ibid.)↩
- Expo 58 took place from April 17 until October 19, 1958.↩