Memorandum on the Policies of the Atlanta Journal, Atlanta, Georgia

This case involved the use of racial designations in employment ads by the Atlanta Journal and the Atlanta Constitution a policy the FEPC opposed because it was discriminatory. The newspapers either had separate help-wanted columns labeled “whites” or “colored,” or they used racial numeric codes for employment ads—“31” in the Constitution and “41” in the Journal—to indicate “Help wanted, male, white.” The case was brought to Clarence M. Mitchell Jr.’s attention by William T. McKnight, the regional director based in Dayton, Ohio, who sent Mitchell a copy of a letter to Glenn L. Cox, one of the owners of the Constitution who also was living in Dayton.

A. Bruce Hunt, the director of Region VII, which covered Atlanta, had sent McKnight a copy of his report, which was sparked by numerically coded ads in the Journal and Constitution from the J. A. Jones Construction Company for workers for its war project in Knoxville. Hunt said he had examined the USES files on the company and had found no indication there that it was discriminating on the project. To the contrary, Hunt reported, the USES had been referring both races to the Jones Company for employment. The USES informed Hunt that the two newspapers were responsible for placing the ads in the “white column,” a practice that violated EO 8802.

Subsequently, McKnight told Mitchell that Cox’s office in Dayton had told him that neither Cox nor anyone else at the Dayton Evening News Publishing company, in which Cox apparently also had proprietary interests, had “any authority to discuss or change the policies of the Atlanta Journal and advised that all matters concerning the publication of said newspaper be handled locally.”

In a memorandum of 3/28/44 to Hunt, Mitchell said:

Needless to say, I am disappointed with the outcome and regret that it is as you feared it would be.

In some of your recent reports, there has been an indication that you are in the process of settling this problem. If you are, I presume no further action by the central office will be necessary. On the other hand, if you wish Mr. [Malcolm H. ("Mike")] Ross to take some action, please indicate what you believe should be done.

The exchange of memoranda is in HqR83 with the text. See also HqR4, Office Files of George M. Johnson. Policy.

MS: copy, HqR83, Correspondence Relating to Cases. Region VII, Atlanta Journal.