Entry · catalog no. 8407
Double V
/ /ˈdʌbəl ˈviː/ /DUB-ul VEE
noun · Pittsburgh and the national Black press · 1940s
✓ Verified
1.
The Double V campaign: a World War II drive begun by the Pittsburgh Courier calling for victory against the Axis overseas and victory against segregation and discrimination at home.
“My grandfather wore a Double V pin the whole time he was in uniform.”
2.
By extension, the principle that Black Americans fighting for the nation were owed full citizenship in return.
“The Double V was never only about the war.”
Origin & Attribution
The campaign grew from a letter from James G. Thompson, a 26-year-old Black cafeteria worker in Wichita, Kansas, which the Pittsburgh Courier printed on January 31, 1942. Thompson asked whether he should sacrifice to live half American and proposed two Vs for victory, one against enemies abroad and one against prejudice at home. The Courier, one of the largest Black newspapers in the country, launched the Double V campaign on February 7, 1942, with a logo, pins, and a regular page, and other Black papers took it up. It was a Black press and Black reader campaign from the start.
1942
Pittsburgh Courier prints James G. Thompson's letter proposing two Vs
1942
Courier launches the Double V campaign, with national pickup by Black papers
1945
The campaign fades as the war ends; its claims carry into postwar civil rights organizing
Region of origin
West
Midwest
N.East
South
Nationwide
Pittsburgh and the national Black press · 1940s
Spoken by
Black newspaper readers, soldiers, and organizers during the Second World War
$DOUBLEThe Record · cultural traction
▲ Steady84 yrs
ahead of the mainstream
55/100
peak cultural energy
Introduced to English by the culture — logged here before the mainstream caught on.
Cultural usage — the recordMainstream search interest
First used
1942
in the culture
Cultural energy indexed from documented usage, search interest, and citation frequency. The recorded date is the archive’s permanent point of record.
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Citations & Sources
■
The Double V Campaign, National Park Service
article
■
The Double V Campaign (1942–1945), BlackPast
article
■
+ Cite a sourcePittsburgh Courier, Jan. 31 and Feb. 7, 1942
newspaper
See also