Eye for an Eye: The Role of Armed Resistance ... - Freedom Archives

of Alabama, to be armed at their meetings . Communist organizer Harry Haywood
commented about the practice of SCA members being armed for their individual
and collective security. In his autobiography, Haywood, remembering the SCA
stated ; "There were guns of all kinds . . .shotguns, rifles and pistols . Sharecroppers
were coming to the meeting armed and left their guns with their coats when they
came in ." Haywood's recollection of the SCA exemplifies the continuation of the
armed resistance tradition among Black Southerners.
Armed Black Resistance : From Towns and Country to the Barracks
Most of the world was involved in imperialist war during the late 1930's
and the first half of the 1940's . Inside the United States, the struggle against racial
terrorism and white supremacy was not suspended due to World War II . Member
ship in the NAACP increased nearly ten times during the War. The Black press
went on an offensive promoting a "Double V" campaign, a victory against racism
and fascism at home and abroad. This militant attitude was also reflected in the
Black recruits in the military during this period, as the Black human rights
struggle extended from the streets and rural places to military bases and towns . A
a component part of the Black human rights struggle, the black armed resistance
tradition was also present on World War II miliary bases . Militancy and protest h%
Black soldiers increased particularly in the South . In the "jim crow" South, a
Black man in a U .S . military uniform, was considered a threat by the local white
population . The U .S . military refused to protect Black soldiers off base from lo,. ., :
racists and often used the military police to control and contain the resistance o I
Black soldiers to racism. This type of segregation, enforced by the military, led t,