Arsenal for Democracy
 10 of 10

Building Bombs on the Plains:
African Americans Face Discrimination

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Black Ordnance Workers
Boarding a Navy bus to go to work, U.S. Naval
Ammunition Depot, Hastings, Nebraska, 1944(?) NARA.
To see a slide show about the experience of African Americans in Hastings, click here.
Racial prejudice became even more apparent when the Navy announced that black sailors and civilians would serve at the Hastings ammunition depot. Immediately there was concern among the white residents about where the newcomers would be housed. A delegation of 30 homeowners from northwest Hastings approached the city council in an unsuccessful attempt to oppose the housing of blacks in the Pleasant Hills Trailer Camp near the depot. According to a spokesman for the group:

"Negro people are proud of their color they, too, want their own communities, their own schools, their own recreation... We're proud of them and their leaders in the contributions they are making in the war effort... They too are faced with problems, being uprooted from their established homes... It would be best if they could be given a community of their own."

It is doubtful if anyone asked the black families if that reflected their views. The city council voted unanimously to oppose the housing of African-Americans in the government trailer camp, even though their actions were not binding on the government.

The federal government also provided housing for black civilian workers in the Spencer Park addition located in southeastern Hastings. When Spencer Park was completed in 1944, black families lived in 260 buildings in the southeastern section farthest away from Hastings. The Hastings community had limited experience with race relations, but it now had segregated housing. Not surprising, the segregated Navy provided segregated on-base housing as well.

"We had a lot of black boys in Hastings at the time in the military... We had not had black people [among us]. A lot of people did not like to see the black people around. They wouldn't even sit beside them on the bus. This is just something that you grow up with. There was no reason for them not to like these people, but that's the way it was.
     — Lorena Smith, Hastings."
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Beauty Contest at Recreation Center
Beauty contest winners at the 'Wo-Wo' Dance, U.S. Naval Ammunition Depot, Hastings, Nebraska, 1944(?) NARA.
There was a need for recreation as well as housing, and once again, the solution was a separate facility. There wasn't much for African Americans to do in Hastings when they weren't working. Every Friday afternoon Hastings NAD officials provided "cattle trucks" with benches on the sides, to transport black workers to Omaha where there was a sizable African-American community. In essence, blacks were forced to travel for hours in converted cattle trucks in search of entertainment because the white community of Hastings assumed separate facilities for African-Americans was a necessity.

Eventually, with the aid of a federal grant, Hastings opened a separate USO club for black servicemen at 624 West First Street. Regularly scheduled activities and dances were held.