Broadside: Memo to Junior Hostesses re. Dancing with Negro Servicemen at the Stage Door Canteen.
HALSEY INVOKES THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE AT THE STAGE DOOR CANTEEN
—
“while you are an extremely attractive group of young women, there isn’t one single one of you who’s that good”
[Military - WWII] Halsey, Margaret. [Broadside]: Memo to Junior Hostesses Re: Dancing with Negro Servicemen at the Stage Door Canteen. [New York?]: [1945?].
Broadside. 11” x 14”.
A broadside of a memo from author Margaret Halsey, (“Reprinted with her permission”) who was captain of Junior Hostesses at the Stage Door Canteen during World War Two, a club for servicemen that operated out of the 44th Street Theatre in New York City.
In this frank memo to white female hostess about their objections to interacting with black servicemen Halsey writes, in part:
Quite a few of you have asked me questions having to do with Negroes... so I think I better explain the matter in its entirety. The Canteen’s policy about Negroes is based on a quotation which runs as follows: “We hold these truths to be self-evident. That all men are created equal...” After exploring various reasons for prejudice she delicately mentions: “Actually, I don’t believe any of you are very deeply concerned with Negro intelligence. What worries you more is the fear of rape. You unconsciously, but very arrogantly, assume that no male Negro can so much as glance at you without wanting to get you with child. The truth is, that while you are an extremely attractive group of young women, there isn’t one single one of you who’s *that* good.
She goes on at some length in a similar tone.
A wonderfully blunt message that leads one to believe that messing with Ms. Halsey would be a very poor idea.
Born in Yonkers, Halsey was a bestselling author and National Book Award-winner before the War. After the War she wrote Color Blind: A White Woman Looks at the Negro (Simon & Schuster, 1946).
Rare: Although brief excerpts appeared in newspapers of the time, and the memo was referenced in books about race relations after the War, OCLC locates no copies of this separately printed broadside.
(#4658785)
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