Race and the Manhattan Project
African Americans played important, though often overlooked, roles on the Manhattan Project. Black workers, many striving to escape Jim Crow laws and the drought that devastated rural farming communities following the Great Depression, joined the project in the thousands. While some worked as scientists and technicians in Chicago and New York, most African Americans on the project were employed as construction workers, laborers, janitors, and domestic workers at Oak Ridge and Hanford.
While African American scientists at the Chicago Met Lab and Columbia University contributed to the work of the Los Alamos laboratory, there are no records of African American scientists at Los Alamos during the Manhattan Project. However, a number of black scientists did join Los Alamos National Laboratory after the war, and recalled an atmosphere of tolerance. In 1955, nuclear scientist George Johnson proclaimed, “In Los Alamos, I feel like I’m a real citizen.”
For more information Click Here
Democratic Party meeting near Oak Ridge,TN-1946
The Manhattan Project prohibited many Native Americans from maintaining their ancestral lands as the military took over hundreds of square miles for scientific laboratories and industrial production facilities at Los Alamos, NM and Hanford, WA. While Manhattan Project officials made some provisions for access, Native Americans were generally unable to access their traditional hunting, fishing and camping grounds or sacred ancestral sites. With little warning, the Manhattan Project disrupted Native Americans’ way of life.
During the Manhattan Project, Los Alamos had a significant need for maintenance and custodial workers. Its isolation allowed ample space for experimentation, but it also left few options for local employees. As a result, many Native American people were hired from the nearby San Ildefonso Pueblo. Men were generally employed as truck drivers, construction and maintenance workers, carpenters, and gardeners. Women were recruited as maids and child-care providers.
There are few public narratives describing the perspectives of Native Americans living near Los Alamos during the Manhattan Project. Most accounts come from scientists and their families who were living there. That conversation’s one-sidedness reflects the stratification of the relationship, despite its seemingly friendly nature.
For more information Click Here
Marie Herrera with Peter Bretscher- 1946