CHAPTER FOUR
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The harbor and surrounding land known as Hampton Roads includes the town of Hampton, the nearby city of Newport News, and several other cities and towns. At the time of Dorothy’s arrival, the area has been transformed. It was once forests and farmland. Now it is a major center of war-related industry. Federally funded housing developments are built, using prefabricated homes, for some of the rapidly growing civilian population. A Newport News development called Newsome Park is for Black men and women. Dorothy rents a room there from a Black couple in their sixties, who own a grocery store and have a large enough home to take in boarders.
Crowded living conditions lead to friction between Black citizens and white citizens sharing public spaces and public transportation. Hampton Roads has mostly avoided major outbreaks of violence, but Black Americans across the country are bitter. They were promised equality after the Civil War, and Woodrow Wilson repeated the promise during World War I. Yet Black men and women continue to experience what W.E.B. Du Bois called “double consciousness.” They are expected to join in the fight against the racist Nazi regime in Europe, but they are expected to endure racism at home without resisting. Black Americans want to know what they are fighting for. They have answered their country’s call after Pearl Harbor, but they continue to hope and demand that their service will be justly rewarded. A letter to the Pittsburgh Courier, a newspaper for Black readers, urges Black Americans to adopt the double V for a double victory: victory over enemies both abroad and at home.
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