Charles Bratt Papers,
1933-1952
Processed by Kaleesha Washington
Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research
6120 South Vermont Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90044
Phone: (323) 759-6063
Fax: (323) 759-2252
Email: archives@socallib.org
URL: http://www.socallib.org/
© 2001
Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research. All rights reserved.
Register of the Charles Bratt Papers,
1933-1952
Collection number: MSS 034
Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research
Los Angeles, California
Contact Information:
- Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research
- 6120 South Vermont Avenue
- Los Angeles, CA, 90044
- Phone: (323) 759-6063
- Fax: (323) 759-2252
- Email: archives@socallib.org
- URL: http://www.socallib.org/
- Processed by:
- Kaleesha Washington
- Date Completed:
-
August 2000
- Encoded by:
- Julia Bazar
© 2001 Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research. All rights reserved.
Descriptive Summary
Title: Charles Bratt Papers,
Date (inclusive): 1933-1952
Collection number: MSS 034
Creator:
Bratt, Charles
Johnson, Clarence
Extent:
1 carton and 2 legal boxes
1 2/3 linear feet
Repository:
Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research
Abstract: This collection consists of the papers of Charles Bratt and Clarence Johnson, both employees of the World War II Era United
States Employment Services (USES), part of War Manpower Commission. The documents deal with the work of the Committee on Fair
Employment Practices (Executive Order 9346) to prevent discrimination based on race, creed, color, or national origin. Special
attention is drawn to discrimination within Unions. Also included is material on the internment of Japanese Americans during
the war.
Language:
English.
Administrative Information
Provenance
Unknown (legacy collection)
Access
The collection is available for research only at the Library's facility in Los Angeles. The Library is open from 10 a.m. to
4 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday. Researchers are encouraged to call or email the Library indicating the nature of their research
query prior to making a visit.
Publication Rights
Copyright has not been assigned to the Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research. Researchers may make single
copies of any portion of the collection, but publication from the collection will be allowed only with the express written
permission of the Library's director. It is not necessary to obtain written permission to quote from a collection. When the
Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research gives permission for publication, it is as the owner of the physical
items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the reader.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Charles Bratt Papers, Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research, Los Angeles,
California.
Biography
As an activist for oppressed people, Charles Bratt has fought for equality for people of all races, creeds, colors, and national
origins.
Charles Bratt was an agricultural activist as Executive Chairman of the Simon J. Lubin Society of California in the late 1930's.
According to the Preamble to the Constitution of the Lubin Society, the goal was to raise the standard of living for the agricultural
wage earner, as well as the working farmer, and to protect their interests.
During the war years, Charles Bratt worked for the War Manpower Commission in Los Angeles. He began as an assistant to Tony
Racine, the War Manpower Commission State Labor Liaison Representative, and then went to work for the United States Employment
Service (USES) in Huntington Park. The USES operated under the War Manpower Commission, which was established in order to
ensure that workers were connected to jobs that suited their highest skill that would help in the production of war materials.
Charles Bratt was later appointed to the position of State Minority Specialist to ensure compliance with Executive Order 9346.
Issued May 27, 1943 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, it created a new Committee on Fair Employment Practices. This was
to prevent discrimination based on race, creed, color, or national origin by companies or agencies contracted with the United
States Government.
After the war, Charles Bratt continued to remain active by serving on several committees to prevent discrimination and to
assist in the relocation of the Japanese Americans who had been interned in the war by the United States government.
Clarence Johnson, also employed in the Los Angeles office of the War Manpower Commission, fought to end discrimination in
the workplace. His official title was Field Employment Assistant of the Negro Employment and Training Branch in the Labor
Division of the War Manpower Commission, however he focused mainly on unions. The unions that discriminated against minorities
prevented them from working certain jobs they were qualified for when the job required union membership and the union would
not accept them. Clarence Johnson's job was to fight the union discrimination. Charles Bratt and Clarence Johnson worked together
to fight discrimination in employment.
Ultimately, Charles Bratt wanted equality and dedicated his life and career to the struggle.
Scope and Content
This collection consists of correspondence, case files, government documents, legal materials, clippings, and other documents.
The majority of the materials concern the work and interests of Charles Bratt from the 1930s to the 1950s, with the bulk documenting
his work with the Los Angeles Office of the War Manpower Commission during World War II and its immediate aftermath (1941-1946).
Much of the material focuses on the implementation of the decisions of the Fair Employment Practices Commission (FEPC) and
various lawsuits and discrimination cases. The "personal" files provide information on Bratt's pre- and post-war activities
and interests, including his education and involvement with the Simon Lubin Society. Also included are documents from Bratt's
co-worker Clarence Johnson, the Field Employment Assistant of the Negro Employment and Training Branch, whose work primarily
dealt with discrimination by various unions in the shipyards and other war industries.
Arrangement
The collection is organized into three series: 1.
War Manpower Commission (Bratt Files), 2.
War Manpower Commission (Johnson Files), and 3.
Charles Bratt: Personal.
Related Material at the Southern Califronia Library for Social Studies and Resarch
Title: Charlotta A. Bass Papers,
Date: 1924-1983,
Physical Description:
8 boxes
Title: South Central Los Angeles Project (partially processed),
Physical Description:
6 linear feet
Title: California CIO Council Union Research And Information Services Records,
Date: 1935-1956,
Physical Description:
9 boxes
Title: Julius Mel Reich Labor Archives Collection,
Date: 1930-1970,
Physical Description:
65 linear feet
A copy of the collection register is kept in the first box of the collection (1/0).
Series 1.
War Manpower Commission (Bratt Files),
1934-1948
Physical Description:
1 carton
Scope and Content Note
This series includes documents from Bratt's work with the War Manpower Commission, the Fair Employment Practices Commission,
the United States Employment Service (USES), and other interracial organizations that were trying to gain employment for minorities
during World War II. It documents many discrimination cases and the hardships brought about when thousands of blacks migrated
to the west coast from the southern part of the United States, mainly from Louisiana. This series also contains information
on the relocation of the Japanese Americans.
Box-folder 1/1
Executive Orders and Directions,
1941-1945
Box-folder 1/2
Wages and Hours,
1939-1944
Box-folder 1/5-1/7
USES (United States Employment Service)
Box-folder 1/7
Legislation and Polity,
1944-1946
Box-folder 1/8
Press Releases,
1944-1946
Box-folder 1/9
Training Materials,
1942-1946
Box-folder 1/10
Training Talk Materials,
1942-1946
Box-folder 1/11
Discrimination Cases,
1944-1946
Box-folder 1/12
Blakeney vs. California Shipbuilding Case,
1945
Box-folder 1/13
Boilermakers Union California Supreme Court Case,
[1945?]
Box-folder 1/17
Minority Groups (Housing and Employment Problems due to "in-migration"),
1942-1947
Box-folder 1/18
FEPC (Fair Employment Practices Commission) and Miscellaneous Minority,
1942-1946
Box-folder 1/19
Federal Security Agency - Wartime Civil Control Administration,
1942, 1945
Box-folder 1/20
Interracial Organizations,
1945-1947
Box-folder 1/21
American Council on Race Relations (Clearing House and Reports),
1945-1946
Box-folder 1/22
Apprenticeships,
1942-1945
Box-folder 1/23
Stabilization Plans,
1944
Box-folder 1/24
State Minority Specialists Desk Folder,
1944
Box-folder 1/25
Statistics and Speeches,
1939-1946
Box-folder 1/27
Union Labor Issues,
1937-1946
Box-folder 1/28
Bratt Personal File,
n.d.
Box-folder 1/29
Charles Bratt's Personal Employment File,
1946
Box-folder 1/30
Minority Clippings,
1943-1947
Box-folder 1/31
Labor News Committee San Francisco,
1947-1948
Box-folder 1/32
FEPC Annotated Bibliography,
1943, n.d.
Box-folder 1/34
Correspondence,
1945-1946
Box-folder 1/35
Clippings and Written Notes,
1936-1946, n.d.
Series 2.
Series 2. War Manpower Commission (Johnson Files),
1941-1946
Physical Description:
1 legal box
Scope and Content Note
This series contains the files of Clarence Johnson, a colleague of Bratt's in the Los Angeles War Manpower Commission office.
It includes labor laws, discrimination cases, and answers to a survey Johnson sent to several companies about their hiring
practices. There are also files on over 50 unions in California that were accused of discrimination during the war.
Box-folder 2/2
Discrimination Cases,
1941-1943
Box-folder 2/5
Aeronautical Mechanics - Seattle, WA,
1942
Box-folder 2/6-2/9
American Federation of Labor Unions (AFL) - California
Box-folder 2/9
San Francisco - Local #6,
1943
Box-folder 2/10
Boeing Aircraft Company,
1942
Box-folder 2/11
#A-35 Auxiliary - Los Angeles, CA,
1943-1944
Box-folder 2/12
#6 - San Francisco, CA,
1942
Box-folder 2/15
#513, Auxiliary #A-36 - Richmond, CA,
1943
Box-folder 2/17
#513 - Richmond, CA,
1942-1944
Box-folder 2/18
Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Employees,
1944
Box-folder 2/19-2/10
Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO)
Box-folder 2/20
Local 902 - United Transport Service Employees of America,
1943
Box-folder 2/21
Cannery Workers Union - San Pedro, CA,
1943
Box-folder 2/22-2/23
Construction and General Laborers Union
Box-folder 2/24-2/25
Dining Car Employees Union
Box-folder 2/25
Local #582 Los Angeles,
1942-1944
Box-folder 2/26
Directory of CIO Unions in Los Angeles,
1942-1943
Box-folder 2/27
Electrical Workers Union-Wilmington, CA,
1942
Box-folder 2/28
Employment Practices By Unions (Fees, Wages, Other Practices),
1941-1944
Box-folder 2/29
National Maritime Union,
1942-1943
Box-folder 2/30-2/34
International Association of Machinists
Box-folder 2/30
Local #68 - San Francisco, CA,
1942
Box-folder 2/33
Local #824 - Richmond, CA,
1943
Box-folder 2/35-2/36
International Brotherhood of Boilermakers
Box-folder 2/35
Local 26 - Oakland, CA,
1942-1943
Box-folder 2/37
International Longshoremen's and Warehouses' Union, San Pedro, CA,
1942-1944
Box-folder 2/38
International Union of Operating Engineers, Los Angeles, CA,
1943
Box-folder 2/39
International United Transport Worker's Union,
1943
Box-folder 2/40
Los Angeles Shipbuilding Company,
1942-1943
Box-folder 2/41
Machinists' Union International (general),
1943
Box-folder 2/42
Marine Firemen, Oilers, Water Tenders and Wipers Association,
1942
Box-folder 2/43
Miscellaneous Workers Ltd., Inc. Oakland, CA,
1942
Box-folder 2/44
Rubber Workers' Union,
1942
Box-folder 2/45
Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Corp. - Seattle, WA,
1942
Box-folder 2/46
Service and Research Dept., CIO Unions - Alameda County,
1941
Box-folder 2/48
#7 - San Francisco, CA,
1943, 1945
Box-folder 2/49
Shipyard and Marine Shop Laborers Union - Local 886 - Oakland, CA,
1943
Box-folder 2/50
SIEMS-Drake Company Seattle, WA,
1942
Box-folder 2/51
Steamfitters' Local 590 - San Francisco, CA,
1943
Box-folder 2/52
Todd-California Shipbuilding Corp Richmond, CA,
1942
Box-folder 2/53
Toyad Corporation - 832 E. 62nd St. Los Angeles, CA,
1942
Box-folder 2/54
United Federal Workers of America (UFWA), Local 2545,
n.d.
Box-folder 2/55
United Rubber Workers of America, Local 43 CIO,
1942
Box-folder 2/56
Union Agreements,
1941-1942
Box-folder 2/57-2/58
United States Employment Service (USES)
Box-folder 2/59
Western Union Telegraph Company,
1942
Series 3.
Charles Bratt: Personal,
1933-1952
Physical Description:
1 legal box
Scope and Content Note
This series contains personal information related to Charles Bratt, events he was interested in, and Bratt's involvements
before the war. It also includes some information about the Welfare Council of Metropolitan Los Angeles (California Youth
Authority).
Box-folder 3/1
Amherst College Alumni,
1933-1940
Box-folder 3/2
California Labor School,
1947
Box-folder 3/3
California Department of Agriculture,
1936-1938
Box-folder 3/4
Congress of Industrial Organization,
1943-1945
Box-folder 3/5
Farm Labor / Simon Lubin Society,
1935-1938
Box-folder 3/6
Farm Security Administration,
1938-1944
Box-folder 3/7
Miscellaneous Agricultural,
1933-1938
Box-folder 3/10
Labor and the Smith Act,
1937-1952
Box-folder 3/11
National Negro Labor Council,
1952
Box-folder 3/13
San Francisco School of Social Studies,
1937
Box-folder 3/14
San Jose Public Schools - Department of Education,
1934
Box-folder 3/15
Sugar Beet Correspondence,
1938
Box-folder 3/16
Welfare Council of Metropolitan Los Angeles - Los Angeles Youth Project (California Youth Authority),
1947