The source examined this week is the article “Fighting Racism: Black Soldiers and Workers in Britain during the Second World War”, written by Gavin Schaffer in 2010. In this article, Schaffer discusses the changing dynamics of racial thought and how that created and influenced the reception of black people during the second world war. He argues that because of the Nazi racial state and the racial extremism in the US-Army, Britain aimed to re-think its relationship to racism. This, as argued by Schaffer, did change existing attitudes towards the black community, but the belief of black difference and interiority continued to exist, especially when it came to ‘miscegenation’.
To support this argument, Schaffer refers to several sources highlighting attitudes towards black people. Firstly, he looks at the War Office who stated that employing black people as combat would outweigh any advantages. In addition, the Royal Navy, when declining Hondurans volunteers, stated that it was not an issue of race but due to them lacking productivity. While the Royal Air Force employed black people during the war, later on, they explained that they would not employ Indian volunteers as these have in the past shown predatory behaviour. Through these examples, Schaffer highlights that during the war, Britain was reluctant to employ black people, but rather than saying it was due to racial thought, they used non-racial issues to continue racial discrimination.
Schaffer also evaluates the general public’s view of black people. While some scholars argue that the general public did not share the same racial attitudes as the government, Schaffer disagrees with that as the Mass Observation archive indicated ambivalence from the public towards black people in wartime Britain. Schaffer argues that the prevailing opinion during the war towards black people was hostile. Schaffer argues that even if people accepted racial equality, they were still opposed to ‘miscegenation’ in wartime Britain. While these prejudices did continue to exist, they did not stop the growth of black working communities in Britain, but racial attitudes continued to shape post-war labour relations, making work opportunities for black people difficult.
The points made by Schaffer are backed up by primary and secondary sources. For his analysis, Schaffer primarily focuses on government papers and Mass Observation (MO) reports which were collected during the second world war. The MO papers, as is highlighted by Schaffer, are only showcasing one specific group of society, the middle-class liberal/left-wing group. Therefore it can not be seen as fully representing the whole of Britain’s society during the war years, but it still represents a part of people’s views at the time and therefore is of value to Schaffer’s discussion. The author refers back to other scholars, such as Peter Fryer, which supports his argument further.
Schaffer’s article fits into this weeks topic well, as it discusses black people’s presence in Britain during World War Tow and Britain’s perception of them. Overall, I think Schaffer’s argument is convincing as he uses a range of sources to express attitudes towards black people in Britain, which highlight that black people were still seen as inferior to white.
Dear Sophie, You show a good understanding of the rationale behind Schafer’s article. You consider the primary evidence that Schafer has used to consider white attitudes towards black people, in particular to relationships between black and white people in the war years. You could mention that this view had been present in British writing and among sections of the public since the slave era. You make a good point the M.O. diary reports are not necessarily representative of general white public opinion. Your post if well written and nicely structured. You show how this article fits in with this week’s topic very well.