Executive Order 8802
description: On June 25, 1941, President Franklin Roosevelt signed Executive Order 8802 which prohibited racial and other discrimination in the defense industry. The Executive Order was a partial response by the White House to a planned march by African American activists on the National Mall to protest discrimination in the defense industry. Defense jobs were a major source of employment even though the United States was not yet at war.
source: National Archives at Washington, DC. View original.
date: 6/25/1941
coverage: 1920-1949